Legends of the Whirlpool
by Johnny Spectre
Summary: A Legend returns to Konoha, intent on fulfilling Minato's wish. A tale of Redemption, vengeance, history retold, and the rise of new legends. Naru/Hina, Uchiha bashing across the board! Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own this dimensional variant!
1. Enter Kurohi Hogosha!

**Legends of the Whirlpool**

**Chapter 1: Enter - Kurohi Hogosha!**

"Ah, it feels good to come back home after so long…" a man in a straw hat and large cloak walked through the gates of Konoha. It had been more than a decade since he left. _'I just hope that he's alright… Sarutobi did give me his word__…__' _It was then that he heard the sound of laughter coming his way.

"DARN YOU, NARUTO! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" a chunin yelled.

"YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT THIS TIME, UZUMAKI!" yelled another. "YOU'LL PAY FOR DESECRATING THE MONUMENT!"

_'Naruto… Uzumaki?'_ the man's thoughts started to spin. His eyes looked to the mountain etched with Hokages' faces.

The mountain was covered in paint. Graffiti was all over and the Hokages looked like drag queens. The man couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

_'He has Kushina's spirit…' _His thoughts were interrupted by laughter again, now coming his way.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU GUYS JUST DON'T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO WHAT I DID!" the man looked down the street to see an orange blur coming towards him, two chunin on its tail. The man hid in a nearby alley to watch the blur speed past him, chunin following. A boy in orange reappeared out of the fence across the street, laughing at the two chunin who had disappeared. The man decided to make his move.

"Hahahaha! Too easy!" The boy said.

"Oh? You think so?" The man inquired.

"GAH!" the boy jumped is surprise. "w-who're you?"

The man started to chuckle. "Me? Just a man who enjoys the thrill of the chase. Nice work on the Hokages, by the way, they've never looked better!"

"Really? You think so?" The boy had a big smile on his face.

The man looked at him: blue eyes, blond hair, and that smile… _'Minato__…__' _"Of course! anyone with enough guts to do that is good in my book! So who are you, anyway?" he had to make sure.

"Me? I'm -"

"In a whole lot of trouble!" a voice yelled from behind him. "Uzumaki Naruto!"

"GAH! I-Iruka-sensei, What's up?" Naruto asked nervously.

"You're supposed to be in class, that's what's up!" as soon Iruka tied Naruto up, he turned to the man, "thanks for distracting him, I'll just take him back to class."

"Umm, you're welcome?" the man just stared as the two disappeared. His mind started contemplating what to do. _'Hmm… I know I should check in with Sarutobi first, but this is just too good to pass up!' _he chuckled to himself as he disappeared from the scene.

* * *

_(Konoha Academy)_

"All right class, since our lecture was interrupted _again_," Iruka gave a glare at Naruto, who just shook it off, "we'll go over henges again."

The class gave an audible moan.

"No moaning. now everyone come to the front and perform the jutsu."

As the class did the technique, no one noticed someone in the shadows.

_'Let's see how your ninjutsu is, Naruto-san…'_

"Next up, Naruto," Iruka said. Naruto stepped forward, but soon held a smirk on his face.

"HENGE!" a large poof of chakra revealed a young blonde woman with a nice figure. The thing was… she was naked, the chakra clouds covering her well.

Iruka was stunned and blown back, curtsey of a large nosebleed.

'…_You really are your mother's child, Naruto' _the man chuckled, a bead of sweat running down his head.

"HAHAHA! That was my newest technique: Orioke no Jutsu!"

"BAKAYARO! DON'T GO MAKING STUPID TECHNIQUES!"

The man glanced at the rest of the students. _'Hmm… the big guy's an Akimichi__, Pineapple-head is a Nara – he's too bored not to be, the other blonde is Yamanaka's girl, the wild one's definitely an Inuzuka, takes after his mother. The sunglasses kid is obviously Shibi's, and… Pink hair? That's different, and she seems to be staring at… an __**Uchiha**__…' _he stopped his train of thought to twitch erratically and restrained himself from revealing himself and killing the bastard outright. He'd come so close now, he couldn't blow it all now. He distracted himself by glancing at the last notable student, which was hard, considering she was practically hiding herself in her jacket. _'__A Hyuga? Seems she's the black sheep of the family, and about time there was one.__'_ He followed her line of sight to see it fall upon the prankster he saw earlier. _'heh, who would have thought. The Princess fawning over the Lost Prince… hmm… that __might actually be a good story plot. I'll work on it later. Now, I've got plans to make.'_

* * *

_(Hokage Tower, a few days later)_

Sarutobi Hiruzen was scribbling away on the paperwork that littered his desk.

_*Sigh*'Damn this paperwork, how did you defeat it, Minato? I may be the Professor, but even I'm stumped…__'_he grumbled as he continued to work away.

He didn't seem to notice the window was open until a few stray papers started blowing around.

"Damn it again! This is too much for me sometimes." He said as he got up to grab the papers. "I really should consider retiring soon."

"Perhaps, Sarutobi." A voice said from his desk. The old Hokage turned around to see most of his paperwork gone and the cloaked man in his seat. "but I doubt you'd find a good replacement."

"Who are you? How did you get into my office? And why are you here?" Sarutobi demanded.

The man chuckled, "Come now, Hiruzen. It's only been… twelve years? You couldn't have forgotten me. Or any of Us." He lifted his hat slightly to show the shine of a headband metal on it, engraved with a spiral.

Hiruzen stared, "It's you… Sh-"

"Kurohi Hogosha, Sarutobi. I have an image to keep." The man interrupted. "tell me, how is Naruto?"

"I believe you could see firsthand on the way here." Sarutobi said.

Hogosha chuckled again. "He's just like his mother."

"His father, too."

"Does he know?" Hogosha asked.

"No…"

"Why not? He deserves to."

"You know well the reason why."

"Not really. I fixed that problem years ago." Hogosha said with an unseen smirk.

"How?" Sarutobi asked.

"A true ninja doesn't reveal his secrets until he wishes them to be known." Hogosha seemed to recite. "…I wish to train him."

"The rosters have already been filled." Sarutobi said.

"Who's he with?" Hogosha asked.

"Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sa-" he was cut off by a pressuring KI.

"WHAT!" Hogosha practically roared. "You… DARE place Minato and Kushina's only son with…with… that THING! Have you gone senile?"

"It was not my choice. The Councils -"

"'The Councils' what? Said that the 'demon' should be hated and beaten? Sarutobi, you know god_damn_ well enough that I won't stand for it."

"It's out of my hands, Sh-"

"Hiruzen, you're Hokage because you have to make tough decisions, not squander away with useless paperwork. I expected you to do better with this. Your laws aren't protecting him at all."

"Speaking of which, where is all of my paperwork?" Sarutobi asked.

"I burned most of it, took it to the lavatories around town, y'know, more _meaningful_ for it to be used as." Hogosha deadpanned, the Hokage gaping at him. "And you might need glasses to read the fine print. Most of them were giving your power to the Civilian Council. I think I even saw an execution permission form for Naruto in there…"

"What? But how did you…?" Sarutobi tried to find the words.

"One of Shadow can truly find sanity when utilizing the Shadow's friends themselves." Hogosha recited again, smirking. "just a phrase from Minato."

"…that clever brat…" Hiruzen chuckled. "So THAT's how he did it."

"For the record, it was Kushina-chan that gave him the idea." Hogosha laughed slightly. "A great woman behind every man."

"True, Sh-… Hogosha-kun."

"You're catching on, Jiji." Hogosha said. "I still want to train him."

"Then you'll have to take Sasuke as well."

"Absolutely not. Besides, I've got a better idea."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Sarutobi inquired.

Hogosha simply smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

_(Academy, day after graduation)_

Naruto rushed on his way to school, actually happy that he passed, learned a new jutsu, and beat Mizuki-teme's ass. He went into the classroom, not noticing the man at the desk.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't pass?" Shikamaru asked, his headband tied around his arm.

"Hee… nope! See? I got it last night after a secret mission. Wanna know what happened?" Naruto smiled.

"Too troublesome…"

"That's what you always say…"

"Only when it's true. You see the new guy?"

"Huh? What new guy?"

"At the desk up front. You know him?"

Naruto looked at the teacher's desk to see a man wearing a dark blue kimono shirt with black flames along the edges and the sleeves. He wore shinobi pants and strange shoes that had metal over the toes and heel. His face was hidden by a large straw hat with a metal plate engraved with a spiral on it.

"Nope. Never seen him before in my life."

"Troublesome…"

Just then, heavy footfalls started thundering down the hall, the predetermined sign of fangirls raging. The door slammed open revealing a blond and pinkette.

"I WAS HERE FIRST!" they yelled at each other.

The man at the front twitched slightly at the sound. _'__The Nara is right, "Troublesome" indeed.__'_

"Hi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called. The pinkette just glared at him.

"Urusei, Naruto-baka! Move it! I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!"

The blonde girl glared at the pinkette. "Like hell he is, Forehead! Sasuke-kun is mine!"

This led to the glaring match/rant that was common between the two.

While this was going on, Naruto got up from his seat and crouched down in front of Sasuke, glaring him down. The Brooding Uchiha glares back, taking the unspoken challenge. The fangirls present were glaring at Naruto, believing he was bothering their Sasuke.

The man in the front watched intently, with a slight feeling he should do something. In foresight, he thought ahead placing shunshin seals on all the seats, planning to screw with the teachers with students switching seats at random for a few laughs. He figured now would be a good test. He quickly snapped his fingers.

He had good timing, the person in front of Sasuke leaned back, bumping Naruto forward and leaning almost falling into Sasuke. Lips touched.

But they weren't Sasuke's.

Instead, Naruto was face to face with Hyuga Hinata, her face both is shock and embarrassment, turning a bright red.

'_N-N-Naruto-k-kun is k-k-kissing me -?' _her thought process made out before fainting while blushing a deep red.

"EH? Hinata, what were you doing as Sasuke? Hinata? Hinaaaataaa." Naruto tried to wake Hinata up.

The man in front chuckled at the reaction, but was disappointed at Naruto's lack thereof. _'__hmm… this might be trickier than I thought… all the more reason to keep it going, hehehehe.'_

"Hey, where'd Sasuke-kun go?" one of the fangirls asked. The others looked around, finding the Uchiha where Hinata was before. His faced showed some surprise, but was quickly covered by his brooding before the fangirls saw.

"Kyahhh!" one of the fangirls squealed. "Sasuke-kun switched himself with the Hyuga! He's so cool!" the others soon followed in squealing. Sasuke made no point to correct them, as he was still brooding. The man in the front looked through his hat, staring incredulously at the scene.

'_If this is the next generation of kunoichi, Konoha's standards have really fallen… I'm gonna have to fix that later.'_ The man looked over to the blond in orange, still trying to wake the pale girl in front of him. _'__The village must not have taken Minato's wish to heart. That or this village is more populated by morons than I remember… probably both.__'_

At that moment, a bandaged Iruka entered the room to see the man and the class as it was. He stared at the man, who gave a few hand signals to explain what was going on:

_[Conflict avoided. Flag of romance raised, yet unseen. Ears ringing from blind fools. Do you have earplugs?]_

Iruka blinked at the man. He looked over the class to see that Hinata was in Sasuke's usual spot, out cold with Naruto trying to wake her up, the other kunoichi genin were on the stairwell praising Sasuke, who ignored them as usual. He looked back at the man and smiled. He sent hand signals back as best he could in his condition.

_[Left third drawer.]_

The man checked the drawer and pulled out a fresh set. He gave Iruka a thumb's up and gave a few more hand signals.

_[Thanks. I'll need these in a bit. Continue with what you were doing.]_

Iruka nodded and looked back at the class. He activated his special technique: the Kyodaina Waru Atama no Jutsu (Giant Evil Head Jutsu) "EVERYONE TO A SEAT NOW!"

The class was startled, everyone getting into a seat in less than ten seconds.

"Now, today is the day you will be placed on a team of three with a sensei. You cannot have them changed for any reason, so don't whine if you don't get who you want. Now, Team 1 is…" the list went on until soon… "Team 7 is Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura–" a cheer and a groan were heard. "- and Uchiha Sasuke."

The reactions switched, and an underlying growl was barely heard from someone. No one could tell who.

"…well that was strange… anyway, Team 7's sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Your sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi."

The man saw the now-awake girl start to shrink into her large coat when she heard her teammates, but perked up slightly at her sensei's name. _'__heh, shy and wanting… I have a feeling this will be more interesting than I anticipated. Definitely Hitomi's daughter, but Hiashi probably needs a remedial lesson in family values. That and the Hyuga Council needs to be disbanded along with the Caged Bird Seal… another arc in my life, I suppose. *sigh*.'_

"And finally, Team 10 will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. Your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. Now as for our mystery guest…" Iruka looked towards the man in front, who chuckled.

"I suppose I would need to give my reason why I am here. Very well." The man stood up, standing over Iruka by a head at least. The new genin could see he had a large scroll slung over his back, and two medium-sized ones beneath it. He lifted the hat back, revealing wildly tame hair in a rich shade of blue. He had one or two wrinkles and a scar over his throat. His eyes were green and seemed dim, but held a certain spark of mischief.

"My name is Kurohi Hogosha. One of you kids gets the privilege to be my student. So who's it gonna be?" Hogosha said proudly and smirked at the faces of the genin.

A legend has returned to Konoha to create the next.


	2. Lessons and the test of will!

**Yoyo! everybody! This is Johnny Spectre! Deviant, Creator, and dashingly handsome! *brick'd* ow! ok, ok, fine.  
**

**What's up? this story has been a pet project of mine for a few years. and I'll try to keep it as canon as possible, wiiiith a few references along the way.  
**

**my Real project is currently in development, but I really need an animation agent to really get this out there (stupid Nickelodeon specifications) **

**All I'll tell you about it (unless you ask _really_ nicely) is that it will revitalize the true era of american animation.  
**

**now... enjoy!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Lessons and the test of will! One punch makes it!**

The class blinked at the man, now known as Hogosha, staring in awe and curiosity.

"Um… sir?" a girl asked.

"Yes, miss?" Hogosha inquired to the questioner. _'here it comes…'_

"You wouldn't be _the_ Kurohi Hogosha, author of the _Kokoro Ninja_ series, would you?"

"Why yes I am." _'three… two… one… aaaaand -'_

"!" the squeal was done by all but one of the girls in the class, who simply had a blush on her face. The guys, on the other hand, covered their ears in pain, especially the one in the black parka, him and his dog. The squealing stopped when the windows on the side of the wall shattered, startling everyone.

Hogosha sighed. "I expected as much from that…" he pulled out the earplugs, now hearing the groans from the male populace, "If your shinobi talent is half as good as your volume, then there might be hope for you yet."

"Um… Hogosha-san?" the quiet girl asked.

"Yes, Miss…"

"H-Hinata. Hyuga Hinata." Hinata stated.

"Ah, Hitomi's girl. You look just like her." Hogosha smiled, causing the girl to flinch slightly, something he took note of for later. "Now you were saying?"

"A-ano… wh-what do y-you mean by apprentice? Aren't you just a writer?"

Hogosha blinked at that… "you're kidding me, right?" Hinata flinched again.

"S-s-sorry -"

"No, don't be; but I ask all of you, how many of you have heard of the Second Sannin or the Konoha Primary?"

The class was quiet except for a cricket that seemed to come from… Shino? The Aburame raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"Sir, we have not heard of the 'Konoha Primary' or the 'Second Sannin', unless you are referring to Jiraiya-sama or Tsunade-sama." Shino stated.

"Sweet Shinto deities, what have they taught you kids? Never mind, I'll find out later. The Konoha Primary and the Second Sannin are the same team. My team." Hogosha created two clones and had both of them henge. When the smoke cleared, there were two people standing, one was a woman with long red hair in a yellowish battle kimono, and the other was…

"YONDAIME-SAMA!"

The blond transformed clone simply smiled at them and chuckled. "Namikaze Minato, Konoha's Kiiroi Senkou, the Yellow Flash. My specialty was speed."

The redhead grinned a very familiar grin the class knew all too well. "Uzumaki Kushina! Konoha's Akai Shi, the Red Death and top Kunoichi of the village! My Specialty was stealth, Dattebane!"

Hogosha stepped forward. "Kurohi Hogosha, Konoha's Aoi Gekido, the Blue Fury. My specialty was my strength and power."

The class was in awe at the sight and what they heard, especially our favorite knucklehead, staring at the redhead woman.

"Uzumaki…?"

"Oi! Are you saying that you were teamed up with the Fourth and some No-name redhead?" Kiba shouted.

The Kushina clone glared at the Inuzuka. "I have a name, ya mutt pup! Too busy chasing your own tail to remember it? Baaaaka!"

"What was that?"

The Minato clone sighed as he looked at the scene before him. "Shikaku-san would say this would be bothersome. At least Tsume-san was more polite."

"All right, you two, that's enough of that." Hogosha said as he called back the clones, hearing what was almost a whisper 'kaa-chan?'.

Hogosha looked at Naruto, a sense of longing in his eyes. Hinata seemed to worry for him as well. He sighed at the scene of confused faces.

"Yes, I was teammates with the Fourth, he was my best friend, and Kushina was a VERY close second." He looked towards the monument in remorse. _'I'll set things right, my friends. I promise…'_

He looked back to the students. They seemed to see him in a new light, even under confusion.

One girl stood up and said, "but why weren't we told about the Yondaime's team? That's serious stuff!"

Hogosha glanced at the girl. "their names alone were obvious." The class was silent for a bit, until Hogosha broke it. "Meet me in Training Ground 11, we'll see who becomes my apprentice there."

He jumped out the window, an orange blur following quickly. The class blinked and then noticed the message on the board left by Hogosha.

_You've got ten minutes._

Suffice to say, the rest bolted out, save for one lazy genin, who simply got up and jumped out last.

* * *

_(With Hogosha)_

"Hogosha-sensei!"

Hogosha looked back to see Naruto keeping up at pace, the rest of the class was a good distance away.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Who was that lady? Was she my mom?" Naruto asked bluntly.

'_Oh yeah, DEFINITELY your son, Kushina' _Hogosha thought, and said "you realize that I let loose an A-rank secret in there, I'll only tell you more if you earn the right to be my apprentice." _'not that it matters. You and the Hyuga girl are the only ones with the potential I like. This test will be rigged to see you two do well.'_

Naruto seemed surprised at the fact that it was a secret, but that steeled his resolve. "Just you wait and see, sensei! I'll clear your test in no time!"

Hogosha inwardly grinned like a madman at that. "We'll see, kid. We'll see…"

They came to the training grounds and didn't wait long for the rest of the class to show up, well, except for the Nara. Hogosha sighed and knew the kid was just like his old man, right down to finding a troublesome woman later in life, he had to chuckle as he remembered Shikaku complaining about Yoshino when she was pregnant. THAT was a troublesome affair in its minority. He then noticed ANBU in the trees and figured to play along with it.

"All right let's see here…" he started mock counting the class. "30 kids? Hmm… I'll need one more." He threw a kunai into the trees, and then pulled back on the ninja wire attached, bringing out one of the ANBU, this one having the kanji for 'root' on his mask. "heh, still got it. Ok, ROOT boy, get Danzou to hand over a kid around genin age, and his little plans stay hidden for the moment."

The ROOT agent said nothing, only disappearing.

Hogosha glimpsed at the class. They had that confused look again. "What? I need a replacement kid for the one I take on as an apprentice. The teams have to be stable."_ 'honestly, these kids are not looking like ninja… note to self: tear down educational infrastructure and rework it from the ground up.'_

The ROOT agent returned with a black haired boy with pure white skin, as though he hadn't been in the sun for years, and he has a small smile on his face.

"Danzou-sama sends his regards." The ROOT agent said, and he disappeared.

Hogosha scoffed at that and turned his gaze to the boy. "what's your name, kid?" the boy just smiled.

"Sai." He said.

"Alright, Sai, go stand with your peers over there."

"Yes, sir. Would standing next to the dickless duck suffice?" this was met with screeches of indignation from the fangirls.

Hogosha blinked, then let out a laugh. "that'll do nicely." _'I like this kid already.'_

As Sai stood next to Sasuke – who was brooding as usual – Hogosha decided to start.

"Ok, first off, I'll better introduce myself. Your senseis will do the same for you later on. My name is Kurohi Hogosha. I am known by many other titles, which several of you will know from talking with your parents later tonight. My likes are writing my books, training, and fighting. My dislikes are arrogance and blind fanaticism. My hobbies include writing, singing, and developing new jutsu. My dreams for the future is to train the greatest shinobi of all time and be proud of that shinobi and to bring forth eternal peace for the world." Hogosha smiled at them. "Oh, I almost forgot. I also _**despise**_ the Uchiha for taking away my chances of happiness."

The said Uchiha glared intently at the blue-haired man, who simply ignored him and the fangirls' raving.

"Now, the test has a simple rule: One Punch. You are all to face against me using every tactic you know. You have to make physical contact at least once, that person will be my apprentice. Read-" he was cut off as a blond blur jumped at him.

Naruto leaped at Hogosha, hoping to finish this quick, only for Hogosha to dodge and grab his arm. This was met with a screech.

"Naruto-baka! Hogosha-sensei hasn't even started yet!"

Hogosha ignored the pink girl and grinned. "a preemptive strike trying to catch me off guard… not bad, kid. Seems you're more ready for the ninja life than the others are."

Naruto grinned at that.

"However, this also shows overconfidence in ability, we'd have to work on that later." Hogosha said as he flung Naruto back to the group. "Next?"

"Gatsuuga!"

Hogosha looked to see two drilling forms coming at him. He leapt back and seemed to look in disappointment. "Seriously? Only ten rotations a second? Come on, Inuzuka! Your parents spin faster in the bed sheets!"

Kiba had the decency to blush while looking appalled "Why you -!" he leaped at Hogosha, who simply stepped out of the way and did a quick chop to the neck.

"Lie down. Stay. Good dog." He then saw Akamaru growling at him. "Relax, pup, he's still conscious. He just won't be able to move for a while."

"Grrr… darn it!" Kiba yelled indignantly.

"See? Now who's next?" Hogosha saw a shadow moving across the ground. "Nice try." He said as he leapt away. "Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu)… Fail!"

Shikamaru merely scoffed. Meanwhile, two white lions that appeared to be made of ink charged at Hogosha.

"Ninpou: Choujuu Giga!" the voice of Sai said.

Hogosha glimpsed at the boy and dodged the lions. He smirked at Sai. "Seems like you kids are finally taking me seriously… good. So Sai, can you take as much as you dish out?"

Sai smiled, but there was confusion until Hogosha pulled out a small scroll and ink brush. He opened the scroll and did a few quick strokes.

Hogosha smiled similar to Sai, as if mocking him. "Ninpou: Choujuu Giga!"

A flare of chakra brought life to the drawing, as it grew to become a giant serpentine dragon. The lions charged at Hogosha, but the dragon wrapped itself around them, squeezing the chakra-based life from them.

"Heh, counter an opponent's move, little can be done against it."

Sai didn't say anything, just smiled.

'_Ok, the kid's starting to creep me out.'_ Hogosha thought, but then he heard a rumbling sound.

"Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank)!"

'_Oh crap. I forgot about the Akimichi!'_ "Doton: Ishi Keisha no Jutsu (Earth Release: Stone Ramp Jutsu)!"

As the human boulder charged at him, a ramp formed in between them and sent the boy skyward. Hogosha leapt after him and was soon situated above him, still in his inflated state.

"Heh, sorry big guy, good try though. Combi-Ninpou: Akimichi Meteor!" Hogosha hit with a heavy dropkick, slamming Chouji into the ground, causing a large crater.

"Uggghhh… I'm hungry…" Chouji groaned, deflating himself.

"You gotta work on your calorie intake, kid. But other than that, nice try."

"ORAAAAAA!" a loud voice roared. Hogosha looked up and saw Naruto in the air. Naruto then did a familiar hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" suddenly, there were dozens of him coming down at Hogosha, who looked surprised, then he had a small smile on his face.

"Hehe, so it's gonna be like that, eh? He really is your son, Kushina." He said to himself. He looked at the swarm of orange in front of him.

"Come on…" he whispered. "Come on." He said a bit louder. "Come on!" he shouted. "COME ON _COME ON_ _**COME ON**_!" he roared with a maniacal grin on his face. He moved his arms so one was in front and one was behind, both in a chopping position. "Rasenken! TATSUMAKI!" Hogosha jumped into the air, spinning so fast the surrounding air warped into a large cyclone. The shadow clones and some of the other new genin got caught in the torrent and were launched into disarray.

The original landed a bit of a way's off. "Damn it! I almost had him!"

Hogosha landed with a large smirk on his face. "Shadow clones? You really hold up to being the Number One Unpredictable Maverick, don't you, Uzumaki?"

Naruto glared in anger, "just wait for it! I'll pound you and be your apprentice! Then you have to tell me about Kushina!"

Hogosha's grin only grew. "Then show me what you got! Naruto!"

Naruto's scowl and grin nearly matched him as he brought his hands together in a normal seal. "Orioke no Jutsu!"

POOF

As the smoke cleared, a tall leggy pigtailed blonde appeared with the residual smoke covering her decency. "Please let Naruto be your apprentice?"

Hogosha blinked and did a mock sigh. "you'll have to do better than that, kid."

The girl scowled and changed back to Naruto. "Why didn't that work? What are you, gay?"

Hogosha merely chuckled. "no, kid. I just like girls that are more… Dynamic."

Naruto looked confused. "Dynamic?"

Hogosha nodded. "Dynamic."

"Dynamic?"

"Dynamic." Hogosha brought his hands into the same seal. "Orioke no Jutsu!"

POOF

As the smoke cleared, there was a blue-haired woman with much larger breasts and hips and backside than Naruto's Sexy form. She was clothed in an almost too tight string bikini, it didn't help that the transformation had her pulling the top slightly, as if daring someone to snap it open. The look on her face was lustful and eager. The genin boys - aside from Naruto (in shock), Shino (no one knows), and Sasuke (brooding) - and a couple girls looked and were launched back by nosebleeds screaming out only one thing before fainting:

"D-D-DYNAMIIIIIC!"

Hogosha released the transformation, swearing he heard an echo from town saying the same thing. He almost didn't notice a slight swell of Killing intent. It was so puny, but it was there, and seemed to be directed at… Naruto?

"NARUTOOO! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE SENSEI DO, SHANNAROOO!" the pink-haired girl threw back her fist in rage.

'_Shit! That punch looks to kill him!'_ Hogosha did a quick substitution with Naruto and placed a paper seal array in his palm. _'Let's see how like a backlash seal, little girl.'_

Sakura's fist met his palm, but her arm collapsed slightly and she screamed out in pain at the sickening cracks she heard and felt. Hogosha was startled at this development.

'_What? There's no way she has that much strength. Not unless she was a…' _"Girl, what's your name?"

"H-Haruno S-Sakura…" she whimpered from the pain.

"And your parents?"

"Kizashi a-and Meb-buki." She cried in agony after that.

Hogosha made a shadow clone and had it take her to the hospital. As it left, he was thinking. _'Haruno Kizashi… the Hokage candidate? I know he had endurance, but I don't remember him or Mebuki having that strength… wait, doesn't Kizashi have a sister?'_ as he was thinking, he was almost unaware of the voice to his side.

"You hurt my friend! You'll pay for that! Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu)!"

'_Crap! Yamanaka are always tricky, especially females! Gotta send her to the mindscape quick!' _Hogosha focused his mind just as he felt the presence of Ino entering.

* * *

_(Mindscape)_

Ino soon found herself in a large temple that looked to be carved into a mountain.

'_Whoa! If this is sensei's mind, he's got some good taste!'_ Ino was in awe until she heard screams from deeper inside. "What was that? Was that Sensei?" she started running through the temple, not knowing she was being watched…

As she went deeper inside, she saw black and white feathers strewn around, and dried blood splattered across the tiled floor, black flame torches eerily lighting her path. The screams grew louder and she could also hear crying. She came to an open room holding a black flame pyre and a person. Ino took a better look and saw it was Hogosha, but much different.

His body was riddled with self-inflicted wounds, many still bleeding, his hair was matted and torn, his eyes wet and red from who know how many tears shed. Ino looked in worry at the proud man she saw seconds before. She then heard his sobs.

"Dad… Aniki… Lee-sensei… Kushina… Minato… I'm sorry… I couldn't save you… I couldn't save anyone… it's all my fault… you're all dead because I… because…bec-" Hogosha started screaming again. Crying out to no one, yet everyone at the same time.

Ino stood there in fear and trauma, and then she heard the flapping of wings and the rattling of chains. She turned to see a large being in shadow, apparently looking at her in irritancy.

"**You shouldn't be here, child," **it said as he raised an arm that held a sword. Ino panicked and screamed as she cancelled the jutsu.

* * *

_(Training Ground 11)_

Ino was back in her body, screaming her head off. Looking around, she saw Hogosha glaring at her.

"S-Sensei! I-I'm sorry about entering your mind and seeing… that!" she stammered, fearing his reaction.

Hogosha kept glaring at her. "I'll have to speak to your father about this."

Ino quieted herself. "Y-yes, sir…" she looked at the ground, slightly humbled.

Hogosha turned away, trying to compose himself. _'Damn it! Of all the things she had to see, why THEM? No matter, there's still the kunoichi, and the Aburame, Naruto, and that bastard Uchiha.'_ He looked around and saw most of the kunoichi in one place. _'hello, amusing reactions…'_ he started flashing through hand seals. "Raiton: Shifuku Yorokobi no Jutsu (Lightning Style: Blissful Pleasure Jutsu)!" Hogosha slammed his hands on the ground and sent the electric current through the ground to the group of Kunoichi, one jumping away at the last instant. Said instant was overcome by the moans and groans of overstimulation via nerve clusters. The girls' brains went blank as they passed out from the pleasure received.

The girl that got away landed only to feel the lesser feedback, surprisingly moaning louder than the others, she still stood, even shakily, but made no move to attack.

Hogosha had a small smile on his face, _'heh, Jiraiya-sensei was right again. It IS always the quiet ones. And for a Hyuga… hoho boy, Jiraiya would be proud of him… if he wasn't so clueless… again, I'll have to fix that later. Now where is he, or that bas-'_

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu)!"

Hogosha jumped out of the way, almost getting singed from the Uchiha's attack. _'Well, there's the answer to THAT question. Damn it! He almost had me. I'm getting old and I'm only 36!'_

Sasuke glared at Hogosha, "You'll pay for insulting my clan." Hogosha just glared back.

"I've already lost enough to you traitors. It's a pity your brother didn't ask me to kill them instead."

Sasuke glared with unkempt fury. "Where is he? Tell me so I can kill him!"

Hogosha smirked. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell some avenger that'll get himself killed for some worthless clan."

Sasuke's rage was boiling over as he charged towards Hogosha. "the Uchiha Clan is the Strongest! You couldn't possibly understand, you weak pathetic scum!"

Resisting the tick mark growing behind his headband, Hogosha gave the rebuttal as he kicked him away. "If your clan was the strongest, then why were none Hokage?"

"Because the fools see compassion as a trait instead of power! They all died because they were weak! Especially the Yondaime!"

That tore it. Hogosha wasn't gonna hold back against the duck. He started dashing towards Sasuke when the bastard got a full force punch from our beloved knucklehead, and boy did he look mad.

"Don't you EVER say that about the Hokage, Teme! They are the strongest in the village, and are respected because they care!" Naruto roared, eyes gleaming slightly red.

"Who cares what you say, dobe! Not your redhead whore of a mother."

"THAT'S IT!"

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!" Hogosha got in between them. As much as he wanted to see the fight, Naruto's safety took priority at the moment, and he couldn't take on the Uchiha… yet. "ANBU," he called. Three appeared in front of him. "Take Uchiha to his residence and make sure he stays there." They nodded and grabbed him.

"Let go of me! We're not done!"

"Actually, we are. While the rest of the class was focusing on me, Naruto, unknowingly, finished the objective."

"Huh? I did?"

"Like I said, unknowingly." Hogosha flared a chakra pulse, waking up the rest of the genin. "Ok, can anyone tell me what the point of the exercise was?"

"We were pitted against a strong opponent, knowing that we had an objective to complete, we believed what you said about the test, but no one completed it." Shino stated.

"You're half-right, Aburame-san. You were facing me, one of Konoha's strongest shinobi, and a good amount of you were making an effort. The objective was there, but you had to figure it out from what I said."

That got the kids thinking. He said they had to get a least one punch in…

"Figure it out yet? I said you had to make physical contact once. I never specified _who_ you had to hit."

"You did, we just didn't catch it at the time. How troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Care to tell the rest of the class, Nara-san?" Hogosha stated.

"You said you hated the Uchiha for ruining your chance at happiness; that alone should have been a clue."

"Correct. And I noticed that of the kunoichi here, only three or four of you could fulfill the objective."

"A-ano, why is that, Sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Most of the girls in our class are fangirls for Uchiha." Shikamaru said.

"And a fangirl would never hit their idol, even one as pathetic as he is." Hogosha stated plainly.

"Sasuke-kun is not pathetic!" shouted a fangirl.

"Oh no? Tell me, who here thinks the Hokage is weak?"

No hands raised, although Sasuke was struggling to break free from the ANBU.

"Your little idol stated that he was, and the others, significantly the Yondaime."

The gasps were palpable.

"The exercise was, in a broader sense, what would happen if there was a betrayal in the ranks during a mission. Usually it's someone closed off and antisocial. When this occurs, the opposing forces ally themselves to take on a common threat. That will be all for this lesson. Your jonin instructors are waiting for you." Hogosha gave a small whistle, and nine jonin appeared. "Kakashi's late again? He should know that I'm back in town by now, and he _knows_ I expect punctuality. Oh, and Naruto?"

Naruto looked over at Hogosha, his eyes betraying his feelings from what Sasuke said.

"Go to your apartment, I'll be there later on, I have a few errands to run. And congratulations, my new apprentice." Hogosha smiled at the boy's foxlike grin.


	3. Confessions and Explanations!

**Wow, over 45 favorites already? AWESOME! I am on a roll!  
**

**Please don't expect the rate of chapters to be consistent. half of it I've planned from the get-go, half I'm making it up as I go along, and its all trying to stay in canon!  
**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Confessions and Explanations! Bound by honor or love?**

Hogosha watched as his newest student sped off to his apartment. Naruto's smile was enough to say that he would be glad to learn what he was taught, and then some. But most importantly, Hogosha would tell him what he was denied to know for so long…

'_That kid's gonna change the world… I'm glad it'll be for the better… hopefully… maybe… eh, I think about it when the time comes.'_ Hogosha muddled it over in his mind until he felt a group of presences behind him. He looked and saw what he recalled as Teams 8 and 10, and Sai. He smiled as he looked at one of the jonin.

"Ah, Asuma, good to see you. How have you been?"

The smoking Sarutobi lit a cigarette and looked up at Hogosha, despite being one of the tallest jonin there, Hogosha was still was a few inches taller. He had a small smile on his face. "I've been good, Hogosha-sensei. Your travels would be a much better tale."

The new Ino-Shika-Chou trio looked at Hogosha and then back to Asuma. "Matte. Asuma-sensei, you trained under Hogosha-sensei?" Ino asked.

Hogosha grinned. "That's right. It was me, Asuma, Maito Gai, and Gekko Hayate. Speaking of which, how are those two?" Asuma looked uneasy at that.

"Hehe, well… Hayate has a girlfriend in the ANBU, despite that chronic cough of his, and Gai…" Asuma looked nervous as he tried to come up with the words. Hogosha noticed and came to a conclusion.

"Asuma… for the love of Kami, PLEASE don't say he still wears that unitard… Lee-sensei only did that _once_ as a joke!"

"He does…" Asuma stated in dismay. "he even does these 'Youth' talks… and he's got a clone now…" Asuma shudders at the imagery.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Hogosha roared. He started spouting threats and plans to get Gai to 'grow up'. After a minute or two, he calmed down enough for pleasant conversation again. "So… the next generation of Ino-Shika-Chou? I would have thought Kakashi would have them, considering Sakumo-sensei trained their dads."

"I thought so too, but you know the council…" Asuma started.

"Kissing ass for the sake of Uchiha." They said together in disdain.

"*sigh* Guess it can't be helped, can it? Ah, Speaking of Kakashi, Sai?"

"Hai, Hogosha-sensei?" Sai said with that smile on his face.

"Due to the absence of Haruno-san and Uchiha, and Uzumaki becoming my personal student, you are now the third member of Team 7. Go to the classroom and wait for Kakashi… at the rate this is, he'll be there in three… four hours tops. It'll be the classroom with the broken windows. Tell him the situation with the others and if he has problems to see me."

Sai smiled at that and shunshin'd away.

Asuma cleared his throat. "So… 'One of the strongest in Konoha'? Where did that come from, Sensei?" Hogosha smirked.

"Heh, well, it's kind of obvious. I'm probably the fourth strongest of the village right now: there's your dad, Jiraiya (even though he's out and about), Tsunade (despite her self-imposed exile), and then me. I haven't seen Jiraiya-sensei or Tsunade-sensei in a while, so I can't gauge for sure." Hogosha thought for a moment, "Orochimaru… I don't consider him part of Konoha, so I tend to leave him out. Although, he does make some _awesome_ barbeque pork."

"Barbeque?" Chouji asked hungrily.

"Yup." Hogosha grinned at the memory. "Back on a D-rank mission, we were stuck with Orochimaru helping out that Korean BBQ place when it first opened. My teammates were helping out the customers and letting people know about it while Orochimaru decided to help in the kitchen."

"That must have been a riot." Kiba said and laughed.

"It was, but not how you think. Orochimaru made this super marinade or something that increased the flavor tenfold. The owners begged him to work for them full-time, but he said the life of a ninja was more appealing. Then they asked for the recipe, but he refused that too. I ran into him several years ago and we had a civil conversation. What he doesn't know is that I got him drunk enough to give me the recipe." He was chuckling as he pulled out a small scroll. "This was before he got into the whole snake thing, so it's healthy to ma-"

He was cut off as Chouji swiped the scroll and started running back to town, cackling like a madman. Everyone looked in surprise, particularly Shikamaru, having never seen the pleasantly plump boy run… period.

Hogosha blinked at his now empty hand, and then to the shrinking figure in the distance. "I _was_ going to give it to Chouza, but this is gonna be a bit more fun. You mind if I give a demonstration to him on stealing documents and avoiding retribution, Asuma?"

Asuma took a long drag and blew out the smoke. "As long as he can do _that_ tomorrow, I don't think there will be a problem."

"It won't." Hogosha created a shadow clone and had him chase after the Akimichi. He then looked at the red-eyed woman. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were an Uchiha."

Kurenai flinched, but held her gaze. "Although I specialize in genjutsu, I have no relation to them."

Hogosha smirked. "Smart answer, my dear. So who are you?"

"Yuhi Kurenai, Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress." She held out her hand.

Hogosha took it. "Kurohi Hogosha, Konoha's Blue Fury. I go by other titles, but that's my main one." He then kissed her hand, at which Asuma subtly flinched. "A pleasure."

Kurenai blushed at that. "L-likewise." Hogosha smiled.

"Now, I hope it wouldn't be too much trouble, but may I borrow Shino and Hinata?" Hogosha asked. "I would like to discuss their actions during the test."

Kurenai straightened herself. "As long as you hold the same bargain you did with Asuma's student."

"I believe that would work." Hogosha chuckled. "Very well, Shino-san, Hinata-san, follow me, please." And he made his way back to the village, the two following him.

"Oi, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba asked "you sure it's a good idea to have them go with him?"

"Kiba, Hogosha-sensei won't do anything to them." Ino stated.

"Oh no? What makes you say that?"

Shikamaru sighed. "It probably has something to do with what you saw in his mind, right?" Ino visibly shuddered.

"I…I don't want to talk about it…" she stammered. "Besides, shouldn't we go after Chouji?"

"Nah, they can take care of themselves." Shikamaru said as he walked off. "it'd be too troublesome to go after him anyway."

* * *

_(With the real Hogosha)_

Hogosha, Shino, and Hinata were walking through the streets, with Hogosha looking for something.

"Let's see… where is that place…"

"Um… H-Hogosha-sensei, where exactly are you taking us?" Hinata asked.

"One of my old haunts. Cheery place, you'll probably li– AHA! There you are!" Hogosha exclaimed, pointing to a well-kept café with a sign in the front that said The Spiral Shoppe, with a spiral usually seen on the backs of the flak jackets painted there.

They entered inside and saw a few patrons and an older woman with light brown graying hair and a few wrinkles behind the counter.

"Uzuki-san, you favorite customer has returned!" Hogosha exclaimed.

The woman smiled in surprise. "Hogosha-chan, it's been far too long! And what have I told you? Call me Anzua."

"Hehe, sorry, Anzua-san. Guess I forgot."

"Oh, it's alright, dear. So are these two your new students?" Anzua asked.

"Not exactly. I'm training _him_." Hogosha stated.

Anzua blinked, then realized what he was saying. "Oh, you mean Naruto? I was hoping that somehow he'd wander here a few times, but most of the fools drive him off. I'm glad Teuchi-san has a big heart for the boy."

Hogosha chuckled. "So he's been going there? I'll have to see him soon. So can we have a table?"

"Your usual spot?"

"You know me _so_ well, Anzua-san." Hogosha said as they were led to the furthest booth. "Thank you, we shouldn't be too long." He looked at the two genin before him. "Now, I would like to know your reasons for not applying yourselves during the test. Shino?"

Shino sat a little straighter than before. "While during the test, I was analyzing your style to find any openings to exploit. To jump into the fray without any knowledge behind it would immediately prove foolish. I saw no openings and the test was over before I could achieve an attack." He said.

Hogosha nodded. "I assumed as much. Thank you. You may leave, Shino. Oi, Anzua-san! Get one of your awesome rollcakes for Shino to go!" Shino and Hinata looked at him. He grinned. "If there's anything I know about the Aburame, is that they have a sweet tooth that puts their bugs to shame. Ah! Speaking of bugs…" He pulled at the large scroll on his back to reveal a large amount of storage seals. Putting chakra into the seal marked 'Shibi', a medium-sized scroll appeared, the borders designed with beetles. "Take this to your father."

"What is this?" Shino asked, taking the scroll.

"That is the documentation and stasis sealing of every significant insect I've come across in my travels. I figured your father would like to see and study them to help your family out creating new insects. But be careful, the wasps and bees in there I… _kinda_ swiped from Iwa. They could be a bit touchy to deal with."

Shino looked at the scroll, and then back to Hogosha. "Thank you very much, Hogosha-sensei. My father will be very pleased." Hogosha grinned.

"Oh, I know he will."

Shino turned to the door, but not before grabbing the boxed rollcake and thanking Anzua. Hogosha smirked, and then turned to Hinata.

"Ok, Hinata. What was your reason for not applying yourself in the test?"

Hinata looked down and started mumbling. "A-ano… I would have… but… w-well, you see…"

"You wanted Naruto to know about his parents. And if you did land a strike, you think he would feel betrayed by you and hate you for it." Hogosha stated. Hinata visibly shuddered.

"H-h-hai…"

Hogosha sighed. "Hinata, do you know why most of the village hates Naruto?"

Hinata looked up at him. "Y-you know?"

Hogosha nodded. "I can't say it directly, too many eyes and ears here, if you haven't noticed."

"N-noticed?"

Hogosha nodded again. "There are six ANBU within 40 feet, your sensei is hiding with a genjutsu believing my intentions are… not so pure, the Hokage is watching through his crystal ball," He looked in a seemingly random direction, "and Asuma is waiting and most likely angry that I made a move on Kurenai." He smirked. "Not so say anything's wrong with her, she's just too young for me."

Hinata was shocked and used her Byakugan to see if he was right. He was. "H-how did you…"

"Know? There are things that even the Byakugan cannot see, but you must learn from experience so you can see without seeing."

Hinata looked down again. "H-hai, sensei."

Hogosha looked at her in worry. He decided to try and cheer her up. "You know, if you grew your hair out, you'd look just like your mother at your age. Heck, Naruto might like you with long hair."

Hinata looked back up at him, tears looking to break loose. Hogosha saw and got serious.

"Hinata, what's wrong?"

"T-the clan elders f-f-forbid anyone from t-talking ab-b-bout her… s-saying that r-r-remembering her w-w-would d-d-detriment my t-t-training."

Hogosha scowled, but was raging inwardly. _'Damn those elders! Don't they realize that trying to forget only makes it easier to remember? Oh wait, OF COURSE NOT! They can't see past their nobility and all that bullcrap. And Hiashi allowing it… ooh, I'll have to talk with him later. They act JUST like the Uchiha did, the morons. Well, I've got a surefire plan for those bakas. But first…'_ he looked back at Hinata. "Hinata, the elders aren't here, and honestly, you shouldn't have to listen to them." Hinata looked surprised.

"B-but as c-clan heiress…"

"But nothing. No matter their social standing, every child deserves to know their parents."

"L-like N-Naruto-kun?"

Hogosha smiled, seeing as she got a bit of confidence back. "_Especially _Naruto. Oi, Anzua-san! Can I get a CinnaCake, a standard size cinnamon roll, and a box of your CinniMinis?"

"Coming up, Hogosha-chan!"

Hinata looked in surprise. Hogosha saw this and explained.

"I figured you'd be hungry after all that's gone on today, and it can also help with what I'm about to tell you."

Anzua brought over a box of miniature cinnamon buns, a normal one, and a much larger cinnamon roll, one nearly twice the size of her head! Hinata almost started drooling.

"Oh yeah, can I get some icing for this?" Hogosha asked, and Anzua gave him a fresh tube of it. "Thanks. Now Hinata, I want you to visualize these CinniMinis as shinobi, and their taste and aroma as chakra, ok?"

Hinata nodded, still staring at the giant CinnaCake.

"Now, think of this regular cinnamon roll as -" he toyed with the icing a bit, making a design of Naruto's head. "- Naruto's chakra. What does that say about him?"

"That he's more delicious -! I-I mean… he has more chakra." Hinata caught herself and started blushing.

Hogosha chuckled at the slip-up. "Very good. Now… what do you think the CinnaCake represents?"

"Um… the Hokage?"

"Hmmm… no. Here, let me make it easier. When was Naruto born?" he took the CinnaCake and started drawing on it.

"October 10th, twelve years ago."

"Oh, right off the bat and no stutter. Impressive. Anything else significant with that day?"

"Um… the Kyuubi was killed by Yondaime-sama?"

"What if I told you that the Kyuubi couldn't be killed, only sealed? And into a living person only."

Hinata thought about it, and realized something. "Y-you m-mean…"

Hogosha finished with the icing, the CinnaCake now displaying a nine-tailed fox. He then placed the 'Naruto' cinnamon roll on top and a CinniMini on top of that.

"I take it you've figured it out. Minato used Naruto in the sealing of the Kyuubi no Youko." He said solemnly. "Thus saving Konoha from destruction and giving Naruto an enormous amount of power to what he already possessed. The village sees Naruto as what he contains instead of what Minato wanted him to be seen as: a hero." He jams an elongated kunai through all three. "And they have done everything to try and get rid of him."

"W-why would Yondaime-sama d-do that to Naruto?"

Hogosha sighed. "He believed Naruto would be able to keep back the fox, as his wife did, and he could not ask anyone to sacrifice themself for his son."

Hinata was utterly shocked at the revelation, her mind trying to process everything Hogosha said. She was nearly unconscious before he brought her back with a poke to the forehead. He looked serious.

"Hinata, I have to ask this, does this change your feelings for him? What I revealed are S-rank and SS-rank secrets. You must NOT tell anyone. Understood?"

She nodded. "S-sensei, the o-o-only thing that has changed is that I feel d-deeper for Naruto-kun. He has gone through so m-much with no one there beside him… I-I-I want to be there for him… for everything… a-always." Hinata's face was now redder than it was earlier when Naruto kissed her.

Hogosha smiled and chuckled as he placed a hand on her head. "Then tell him. Naruto needs someone like you. I can teach him all my skills and have him read everything in my books, but to have someone say it to him… that's something that can't be expressed in writing." He then grabbed the box of CinniMinis and left the booth. "Enjoy your cake, it's on me."

Hinata looked at him in surprise. Seeing his smile, she turned to the tower and pulled out the kunai, took the CinniMini, and popped in in her mouth. Hogosha chuckled at her reaction as he could almost see the sparkle in her eyes. The café was known to create the best pastries in all of the Land of Fire. He popped one of his own in his mouth as he walked out.

"You gonna hide under that genjutsu all day or can we speak face to face?" he said as he stepped out. The illusion disappeared as Kurenai rounded on him.

"W-was all that true?"

"Yes. Every word of it."

"What the hell are you thinking telling her that?" Kurenai glared at Hogosha.

"She asked a question, I answered. I speak the truth, something this village has been lacking for some time. Besides, this place holds some good memories for me. It seemed appropriate, the demonstration was… 'the icing on the cake' as they say."

Kurenai sighed. "You _do_ know she's addicted to cinnamon rolls, right?"

Hogosha blinked owlishly, surprised at the statement as he looked at Hinata, now voraciously eating the CinnaCake. He looked back to Kurenai. "Mayyyybe I overdid it a bit? Hehe… CinniMini?"

Kurenai looked exasperated, but glared at him still.

"What? How was I supposed to know? Hey Asuma, you mind getting your girlfriend back a few steps? I need some breathing room."

Kurenai looked surprised as she looked around so see Asuma appearing with a blush on his face.

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend, Sensei." Asuma tried to sound collected, but failed.

Hogosha grinned. "Ah, she's not? Then I'll just have to whisk her away with my charm and leave you a lonely ma-" he was cut off as he dodged a trench-knife punch from Asuma. "I was kidding! Geez, she's too young for me! Didn't you hear me say it?"

"Kurenai-sensei!"

The fight stopped as Hinata came out from The Spiral Shoppe, definitely with a happier look on her face, or was it giddiness from the sugar?

"Yes, Hinata?"

"_I was just talking with Hogosha-sensei about the test and he said I shouldn't feel so bad that I didn't do well because he knew my feelings for Naruto-kun and said that he might like me with longer hair and now look!_"

Yup, definitely the sugar.

But as she spun around, Kurenai, Asuma, and Hogosha could see that Hinata's hair was much longer than before, now her hair was down to her knees. Kurenai glared at Hogosha again.

"What? Ok, so I used a jutsu that made her hair grow, I figured it'd be nice and since Naruto apparently likes girls with long hair, he'd notice her!" Hogosha stated frantically, still aware of those around if there was a scene. Speaking of which, he saw something in the distance and moved so no one would get hit.

"Hogosha, what are you –" he held up his hand at Kurenai, then started counting down with his fingers.

Three…

Two…

One…

They now could hear something coming at full velocity. Hogosha ducked and an object slammed into the ground.

"You'll have to do better than that, An…ko…cha-" He got a better look at the attacker. Deep purple hair, mesh shirt, brown miniskirt, and tan trench coat. He was silent for a few seconds as he took in her form. "ANKO-CHAN!"

Said woman grinned a flirty grin at Hogosha. "How's it going, Sen-sei?" she almost laughed at his reaction. Well, she did when she saw the test through the Hokage's crystal ball with him and a few other members of the T&I Department, in case anything was amiss. All the men in the room passed out with 'DYNAMIC' screamed out their lungs. It was hilarious to say the least. She knew the only one crazy enough to use someone's jutsu at _that_ level against them was either Kakashi - who was always late, so he was out – or her second sensei. Hogosha was the one who took Anko in after Orochimaru's defection. He may not have been there long, due to everything that happened, but he taught her that a shinobi is only as good as his or her talents, but it doesn't mean more couldn't be learned.

Hogosha was struck dumb as he saw the little girl with the attitude he knew as the woman in front of him. He tried to compose himself. "Y-you look different, Anko."

The Snake Mistress gleamed mischievously at Hogosha. "You like, sensei? Does it make me more… _Dynamic_?" She wanted to laugh. Heck, she was even doing the same pose!

Hogosha was trying to regain all his teaching methods in his mind to stop himself from looking. He thought of her like a daughter and she dressed like that! But she was right, it _was_ dynamic, but he could never bring himself to do _that_ to her. Too young for him and too dangerous, if he recalled the released shinobi reports from his travels.

"GANGWAY!"

Hogosha heard his own voice yell in fear. How could that- oh right, the Shadow Clone. Hogosha looked in the direction it came from to see his doppelganger turn the corner. The clone saw him and tossed him the recipe scroll from earlier. "Boss, catch!" he called as he dispersed.

Hogosha caught the scroll and soon gained the memories of the clone. His face came with a look of dread.

* * *

_(Flashback – Clone's memory)_

The Hogosha Clone was chasing after Chouji, who was running like a man possessed. He finally caught him stopping in front of a building. C-Hogosha landed on Chouji and sat on him as he took back the scroll.

"I'll take _that_, thank you. Now, you really had me going but you forgot the rule as to lo-"

"THE SACRED PRIMARY KOREAN MARINADE HAS BEEN FOUND!" Chouji yelled out, as best he could with an adult sitting on him. C-Hogosha looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously? You _named_ it? Wow, points off for lack of originality there." He deadpanned, and then caught a look at his audience.

Looking out the building were all large-bodied individuals. All members of the Akimichi clan. All staring in hope and hunger.

"Oh, you fat son of a -" he was thrown off as Chouji forced himself up in a roar.

"I'M NOT FAT, I'M CHUBBY!" Chouji roared again.

"Oh, shit." C-Hogosha whispered as he started running for his life.

"AFTER HIM!" the Akimichi heir ordered, and all the clansmen started chasing after the clone.

_(End Flashback)_

* * *

"It just _had_ to be Akimichi Hour there, didn't it? Shit!" Hogosha wailed.

"What are you talking about, Sensei?" Asuma asked.

"Two things, my former student: one, never call your one student fat." Hogosha stated. "Two, this street's about to get a lot flatter."

"How so?" Kurenai asked.

"Akimichi Stampede."

"THERE HE IS!"

The group looked and saw at least two dozen Akimichi clansmen, Chouji at the lead.

"Oh Ryuudama…" Hogosha swore.

"GET HIM!" the Akimichi thundered towards them, fire in their eyes.

"We'll exchange niceties later, Anko. I got a busy schedule, starting with RUNNING FOR MY LIFE!" Hogosha started speeding away and the rest jumped to the rooftops for safety, barely missing the horde following him.

The chase continued on for about twenty minutes, Hogosha was desperately searching for the recipient of the scroll.

'_Come on, come on, where the hell are you, Chouza?'_

He turned down a road and saw Shikaku and Chouza coming the other direction. He quickly ran up to them.

"Chouza, Shikaku, HI! Look, I don't have much time and I'm in a hurry, so Chouza, could you take this -" he shoved the recipe scroll into Chouza's hand, "- and Shikaku, your son is more like you than I care to admit. He'll end up with a woman just as troublesome as Yoshino."

"HOGOSHA-SENSEI!"

Said blue-haired man looked over his shoulder to see the Akimichi clan raging at him.

"Shit! I'll talk to you guys later, I gotta go!" Hogosha leapt over the two and sped off, leaving Shikaku and Chouza at their mercy. "Tell Inoichi that I need to talk to him!"

"…So do we kill Hogosha after this?" Shikaku asked.

Chouza looked at him, then back to the scroll. "Only if _this_ wasn't worth the trouble."

"It's Hogosha."

"…Fair point." Chouza stated as he braced for impact.

* * *

Hogosha stopped running about six blocks later to catch his breath. He then went over his mental checklist to see what else he had to do before going to get Naruto. _'Hmm… let's see… delivered scrolls to Chouza and Shibi, verify Hinata's feelings for Naruto… oh yeah! Kizashi's next, then Inoichi.'_ He sighed and looked around. A good amount of work had been done in the past twelve years, but he could tell where things were. _'Now… where was Kizashi's again?'_

He soon realized that he had never been to the Haruno residence, so he was pretty much out of luck there.

"ANBU." A lone operative wearing a boar mask appeared at his side. "Where would Haruno Kizashi's place be?"

"Four blocks west and three south, sir. And Hokage-sama wants to speak with you." Boar stated.

"Tell him I'll get to him on my own time. I'm busy at the moment, if you haven't noticed."

"He says you revealed A- to SS-rank secrets of the village. I'll have to take you in."

"Those secrets are mine to reveal as I see fit, seeing as I have parts in them, so your authority is moot." Hogosha glared at the ANBU. "Now leave."

Boar complied and disappeared. Hogosha started walking towards his destination.

'_Honestly! I told Jiji years ago that I am under no-one's thumb. I make my own rules, and I'll never follow that council as it is. Damn Uchiha-chauvinists. They'll learn not to mess with me or Naruto soon enough.'_ Hogosha soon came to a small older home with 'Haruno' above the mail slot. _'Must be the place.'_ He clicked up the steps and knocked on the door.

"SAKURA! Where the hell have you been!" the door slammed open, revealing a short woman with goldenrod hair styled forward and down to a soft point. She was wearing a white dress with three red rings down the front, the opposite colors of Sakura's dress. She looked up and saw Hogosha's face. "A-ah! Hogosha-sama, Wh-what are you doing here?"

'_At least I know where Sakura gets the screeching from.'_ Hogosha thought, then decided to bring out the pleasantries. "Ah, Mebuki-san. So nice to see you. May I come in? I have some business with you and your husband."

"O-of course. Please come in." she allowed him passage, to which Hogosha entered and took a good look at the surrounding area. A couple family photos, most with Sakura. He could see the fridge had some graded tests of Sakura's, all high marks. So far, a normal family household.

"KIZASHI! We have a guest! Get in here!" Mebuki screeched.

'_Complete with lazy husband and loud wife.'_ Hogosha thought. _'At least Kushina and Minato would have been a more peaceful… oh, who am I kidding? Kushina and Naruto would drive the village nuts… actually, that'd be hilarious.'_

"Yes, Mebuki-chan? Who is it?" a tall man came into view. He had green eyes and a large amount of pink hair styled into five points and angular mutton chops that almost came to his upper lip. He was wearing a pale forest green yukata.

"Yo, Kizashi." Hogosha greeted. Kizashi jumped as if startled.

"Ho-Hogosha-sama!"

"Yes, yes, me. Now can I speak to both of you? It involves your daughter."

"Wh-what did she do?" Kizashi asked. The three of them were soon seated around a table.

"Prior to the genin separation into teams, I held a test for one of them to become my apprentice."

"And Sakura won?" Mebuki inquired.

"Actually, Uzumaki-san did."

"THE DE-Mmph!" Mebuki was cut off as Kizashi covered her mouth.

Hogosha gave a taciturn glare at her. "Yes, him. You're lucky your husband has the ability to keep you silent when deemed necessary."

"Please, Hogosha-sama," Kizashi placated, trying to ease the tension in the air. "You were saying about Sakura?" Hogosha returned his attention to Kizashi.

"Sakura showed an astounding amount of strength for someone of her structure and in the process broke her Humerus in three places, and her Radius and Ulna in two places not corresponding to each other." This frightened the parents. "She is in the hospital at the moment, so she should be fine for tomorrow's test with Kakashi… if he's not late." Hogosha straightened his back. "Did you know of this strength prior to today?"

Mebuki spoke first. "Um… well… Sakura has said that she's beat the de- er… Uzumaki several times in the past." Hogosha nodded.

"I've seen this reaction over the past several days. She holds no qualms and has little restraint in acting out and reacting to simple pleasant conversation. Her reactions are quite volatile." He stared the two down. "So who are her real parents?"

"EXCUSE ME?" Mebuki screamed. "How DARE you question her parentage to us!"

"This excessive strength is something neither you or Kizashi possess, Mebuki. This inquiry is merely to test a theory I have. But due to your reaction, I may have been mistaken. I may as well take my leave." Hogosha stood up and made his way to the door. "Ah, yes. One more thing. Kizashi, how is your sister?"

"Renge? She's in a coma at the hospital."

Hogosha thought for a moment. "Thank you for telling me, Kizashi. I'll be on my way." He closed the door behind him as he left.

"How dare he question Sakura's parentage! Who does he think he is? And why did he ask about your sister, Kizashi?"

"Mebuki, Hogosha-sama gave a compelling argument. He is within his rights as a teacher to ask questions about his students, no matter how brief a time they are under him. And Renge? Even I don't know why…"

* * *

_(At the Hospital)_

Hogosha's walk to the hospital was uneventful, aside from the ANBU tailing him and the stares he was receiving from the older shinobi. Heck, his reputation only increased when he apparently 'left' the village, and in over the past decade, he had over 150 individuals saying they studied under him. One of his other titles was Densetsu no Kyoushi, the Legendary Teacher, and damn if he didn't live up to it. All he trained were directly promoted to jonin after their Chunin Exams. It wasn't that they were easy exams; the students were just that good. The only exceptions were his Konoha students: Asuma, Gai, and Hayate. No one knows but him why there was a sudden change in teaching method outside the walls of Konoha, but those that DO know of his methods never speak of it, especially his 'remedials'.

Not even the T&I Department are cruel enough to implement them.

He entered the off-white building and inhaled the noxious fumes of antiseptic. Bleck. The sooner he left this place, the better, but he had to be sure of something. He walked up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, but where would I find a Haruno Renge?"

The receptionist looked up at him in surprise. "I know that Haruno _Sakura_ was taken in here earlier today for a shattered arm, but I don't think there's a Haruno Renge here."

"Could you please check?"

"One moment, sir." The receptionist got up and started looking through a file cabinet. About two minutes later, she came back. "Haruno Renge is in room 313. Apparently, her file was lodged with someone else's."

"Thank you." Hogosha stated and went off to the room.

When he got there, he saw a woman in bed resting with her eyes closed. The machines beeping rhythmically, showing stability. She had long pure white hair with a few strands of pink here and there, a pale complexion, but not as pale as that Sai kid from earlier. From what Hogosha could see of her body, she was definitely more filled out than Mebuki, but that wasn't saying much. She was probably a small C, still, nothing impressive from what he usually saw from his escapades with Jiraiya. Seeing that he could gain nothing from this endeavor, he turned to leave.

"Sakura-chan…"

Hogosha stopped. That voice was _definitely _**not** Naruto trying to get the girl's attention.

"No… Sakura-chan…"

Hogosha turned back to the bed to see Renge fidgeting. Not something you see in a coma patient.

"Don't take… -ter. Leave her alo…"

The monitors were beeping more erratically.

"Saku-…chan… give her back… Sakura…SAKURA-CHAN!" the woman shot up instantly, her eyes wide open in panic and fear. Her bright red eyes.

Hogosha was surprised, but calmly walked toward the foot of her bed and looked over her medical record.

'_Hmm… so far, everything looks normal. Body frail since birth, blood work looks clean aside from a few natural anomalies - obvious enough, considering she's albino – blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, medical filler, must be-' _Hogosha stopped. _'Hello, this is a surprise: "Must be kept sedated at all times"? Well, looks like someone doesn't want people seeing her… or her seeing some__**one**__.'_ He looked back at the panicked woman looking around. "Haruno Renge?"

Renge turned her focus to Hogosha. "Yes?"

"My name is Kurohi Hogosha. I am here to ask you a few questions." Renge looked a bit confused.

"Kurohi Hogosha, the friend of Uzumaki Kushina?"

Hogosha was nearly floored at the question. "Y-yes. Is there something you want to say about it?"

Renge smiled. "Can you please tell her that Inanda-kun is looking for her?"

Hogosha's eyes went wide. He hadn't heard that name in… was it 20 years? He had to make sure. "Who is Inanda to you?" he asked seriously.

Renge smiled slightly. "Inanda-kun is -"

"None of your concern."

The voice came from the doorway. Hogosha could see that the voice visibly shook Renge. The voice came from a middle-aged man with black hair and glasses. He had a purple turtleneck on under his doctor's coat, and had a strange doll out of his chest pocket, obscuring his nametag.

The man looked at Hogosha. "Visiting hours are over. You must leave."

Hogosha glared at the man but made his way to the door, not wanting to cause a scene for the other patients. That guy felt all kinds of wrong to him.

"Hogosha-san!"

Hogosha looked back at Renge.

"Please save my daughter! She's all I have left to remember him!"

The man moved in on her. "You've said far more than enough." He injected a needle into her neck. She started to look drowsy and laid back.

"Save… my… Sakura-chan…" she fell asleep quickly.

Hogosha only stared and then continued down the hall. He was quickly going over what he saw. _'So Renge had a daughter with this Inanda named Sakura. But there is only one Sakura on record in the Ninja Academy. Hell, I even checked the civilian schools. There's only one Sakura in the whole freaking village. This will inquire further investigating. Furthermore… is it really him? How did he survive…?'_

As he left the hospital, he pulled out Renge's medical file. _'thank Kami for Seiki Kage Bunshin (Inanimate Shadow Clone). It may only last a few hours, but that weird doctor won't even notice.'_ He put it away and made his way to the flower shop.

* * *

_(Yamanaka Flower Shop)_

Hogosha entered the front door to see Ino at the counter thinking about something.

"*Ahem*"

"Bwah!" Ino yelped. She looked and saw the blue-haired shinobi. "Ho-Hogosha-sensei! I didn't expect you here so soon…"

"I'll oversee it this time, Ino." Hogosha stated, his tone distinctly business-only.

"I-I'll just go and get Daddy…"

"Not just yet." He said, and Ino stiffened. "I have need of your… unique expertise on a certain matter."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"What would you say of this?" He handed her Renge's file and highlighted what must be done to her. Ino read over the file and soon handed it back.

"Aside from the medical mumbo-jumbo, I don't understand why she needs to be sedated constantly. It sounds like she hasn't had visitors in years."

"She hasn't. The public story is that she's in a coma."

That got Ino's attention. Her Gossip Senses were twitching wildly. She started having a wide grin on her face.

"Somebody's _hiding_ something~" she said playfully.

Hogosha nodded. "Including a supposedly missing Cherry Blossom…"

Again, Ino's senses were whirring. "Wait, Sakura's missing?"

He shook his head. "Not the one you know. Renge said she had a daughter with a man that was looking for Kushina. She said her daughter's name was Sakura."

Gossip senses now in Overdrive.

"But I met Sakura's parents, it's kinda obvious that that man is her dad. Pink hair is about as rare as your blue hair or my blonde. Heck, even Naruto's hair is rare! The only other person with hair like him is the… Yon…dai…me…" Ino's eyes got wide. "OH MY GOD! NARUTO'S THE FO-MMMF!" Ino's mouth was covered by Hogosha's hand.

"Let's stay on track, Ino. You surprisingly uncovered an SS-rank secret without realizing it. That must NOT be blurted out unless I say so. Doing so would be considered treason punishable by death unless you were directly involved. Understand?"

Ino nodded, and Hogosha removed his hand. When she regained her breathing, she asked, "Who else knows?"

"Aside from me and you? Sarutobi-jiji, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kurenai, Asuma, and Hinata. Hinata knows a bit more concerning Naruto, only because I asked her about -"

"Her feelings for the knucklehead?" Ino finished.

"Obvious, isn't it?"

"Like painting the Hokage Monument in broad daylight."

"Ah, but from what I heard, Naruto was finished before anyone even noticed it being done."

Ino sighed. "Ok, maybe not the best analogy."

Hogosha patted her head. "You're young. You'll learn. Now, back on track. I plan to tell Naruto of his heritage later when I see him tonight. And there's also your personal mission I am to assign to you."

"I'm listening, Sensei." Ino stated in assurance.

"Renge is either Sakura's mother or aunt/surrogate, and someone doesn't want her talking. I'll speak to the Hokage tomorrow. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to gather as much information on the social dissidence and negative reactions of the civilians on specific individuals in the village. You will report this information to me and me _alone_. Your answer?"

Ino smiled. "When do I start?"

Hogosha smiled. "_After_ I speak to your father after what happened during the test."

Ino's smile disappeared and she put her head down. "No fair. You gave an awesome mission to catch me off guard."

"Don't tell me you're backing out of the mission you accepted." Hogosha teased.

Ino glared indignantly. "NEVER! Daddy! Hogosha-sensei's here!"

Inoichi came into view from the second-floor balcony. He looked irritated at Hogosha.

"Yo, my Boar-man!" Hogosha said, trying to cheer him up and possibly prevent his mind from being scrambled.

The vein on Inoichi's head throbbed. "Do you have any idea how bad that fiasco I had to deal with today was?"

"You mean the Stampede? I forgot it was Akimichi Hour at the restaurant! Honest!"

"That scroll was like a treasure to them and you practically waved it in their faces! You freaking baited them!"

"Ok, for the record, I was only getting it back from Chouza's son so I could give it to him directly."

"All of those involved were in a food-crazed hypnosis. _Especially _Chouji."

"Blame him! He's the one that blurted it out to them all! I had no idea the reaction would be that strong."

"A recipe scroll to an Akimichi is sacred text. You _know_ this!"

"And I was _giving_ it the one I thought would be the most responsible with it. Speaking of, how _is_ Chouza? And Shikaku for that matter."

Inoichi sighed. "Yoshino came by a little while ago and picked him up. Chouza and Chouji, on the other hand…" he pointed to the kitchen. Hogosha looked and saw the Head and Heir just standing there. Blank, yet happy faces and a line of drool leaking from their mouths. He also saw a bucket at each of their feet.

"They make it and taste it?"

"Nope." Ino said. "That's just from reading the recipe."

Hogosha blinked. "How long have they been like that?"

"An hour." Inoichi stated. "Two tops."

"…I don't know whether I find that funny or sad…"

"Let's get back to why you're here, Hogosha."

"Ah, right. But did you at least get blackmail pics?"

Inoichi smiled. He pulled out a full set of photos. "Ino isn't the only gossip master in town." He put them away and became serious. "So who did she see?"

"Anguish and Him." Hogosha stated.

Inoichi sighed. "I take it Anguish was worse than my last run-in?"

Hogosha only nodded and shivered.

Ino looked worried, but confused. "Um… Hogosha-sensei? Who was the one that attacked me in…" she shuddered, "there?"

Hogosha looked away. "I can't say his full name due to certain specifications, but I call him Yataga."

"Yataga?"

"That's for another time, Sweetie." Inoichi said, "For now, what do you know of personified emotions?"

"Huh?"

"I'll tell her, Boar-man. Personified Emotions are something veteran shinobi create in their subconscious when specific kinds of events happen, such as the death of a loved one, an intense hatred of someone, or something else that encases a strong emotion. A more physical version of this is Multiple Personalities. Unlike them, the emotions stay up here instead of being expressed in totality. Make sense?"

Ino nodded.

"Good, now I have one more thing to do today. So I'll see you later." He left through the door and disappeared.

"Hogosha-sensei is… surprising, isn't he?" Ino asked.

"You should have seen him when he was your age." Inoichi said solemnly.

* * *

_(Naruto's Apartment)_

Naruto was finishing cleaning his apartment so his new sensei wouldn't think badly of him. He finally had someone that knew his family! Just the concept of family was… new to him. He had always wondered about his family, but no one would tell him, not even Jiji…

There was a knock at the door. Naruto quickly rushed to the door and was happy to see Hogosha there. His face was solemn, but he just couldn't hold back a small grin.

"Yo, Naruto!"

Naruto just grinned, "Now that I am your official apprentice, you have to tell me about Kushina!"

"Straight to the point. I like that." Hogosha grinned, but then his face went somber. "If you want to know about her, I suggest you read this first." He pulled out a small book and handed it to him. Naruto looked at it curiously.

"What is it?"

"The first part of your birthright." Hogosha said.

Naruto's eyes widened and he read the cover.

_**The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja**_


	4. What's in a Name?

**25 reviews, 63 favorites, and three communities? I feel so _loved_! XDD**

**Ok, ok, enough with my ego, that's Uchiha-centric. for your entertainment and enjoyment, here's the next chapter~  
**

**also, question before you begin: Is it just me, or is Danzou the Dick Cheney of the Anime world?  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4: What's in a Name? Bonds Can Never Shatter!**

'_Damn! He had to catch me off guard… but I can't let this stop me…' the ninja grumbled to himself._

"_Do you really think a lone ninja like you can stop me? Do you really think this will change anything?" the enemy ninja jeered at him. "The balance of the countries is shaking and War is inevitable! Feh, this little game of tag is getting boring…" He flung a large shuriken at the Ninja, who dodges and throws a smoke bomb as he got close. The two clashed in the smoke until it cleared._

"_Not bad…" the Ninja stated on his knees._

"_Pathetic. Just give up! This is our fate as shinobi. One ninja can't make a difference like you, fool."_

"_Can I tell you something?" the Ninja asked._

"_No. I don't feel like listening, just DIE!" the enemy ninja charged forward, slamming him into the trunk of the tree._

"_You should give up…" in a puff of smoke the Ninja disappeared._

_The enemy ninja looked surprised. Then he heard something behind him._

"…_On making me give up." The Ninja proclaimed. He chopped the back of the enemy ninja's head, smashing his face into the tree._

"_GAK!" the enemy ninja fell across the branch, his body laying limp. He struggled with his next words. "Even if you defeat me… other assassins will attack the village." He started chuckling. "As long as we are cursed to live in this Ninja world… there will be no peace…"_

_The Ninja looked down at him solemnly. "In that case… I will break that curse! If peace is possible, I will do anything to obtain it! I'll never give up!"_

_The enemy ninja looked at him is surprise. "Wh-who are you?"_

_The leaves started flowing down from the branches above as the Ninja spoke. "My name is…"_

* * *

"'Naruto'…" the blond boy mumbled as he looked in awe as he read the story. He turned to Hogosha, who kept silent during his reading.

"Naruto, your parents named you after the character in Jiraiya-sensei's book. They hoped to see you become a shinobi that never gave up on those he cared about." Hogosha told him. "I want the same of you. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah… but this still doesn't help about Kushina!" Naruto said indignantly.

Hogosha chuckled. "Read the back page before the Author's Note."

Naruto flipped to the back and saw a white-haired man with red streaks on his face and a mole on left side of his nose. He ignored it to see someone's scrawl, two peoples, actually. He quickly read them.

_Naruto!_

_If you're reading this, then Hogo-chan must have given it to you, and you have him helping you with something insane and dangerous, no doubt! He always was one to get a bit dangerous in training, but don't worry! He's as sane as me, Dattebane! Gah! I hope that you didn't get my catchphrase! It's impossible for me to get rid of! If you did get this book and we're not around, then something happened to us that Hogo-chan will tell you about in some overdramatic way, the baka. Anyway, be a good boy and find a nice girl not like me, I'm still too rough around the edges. Find someone that makes you smile and cares about you for who you are. Bye-bye sweetie!_

_-Uzumaki Kushina (Mom [it feels so weird yet right writing it down!])_

Naruto laughed a bit at Kushina's entry, tears were forming in his eyes. He wiped his eyes and looked to the second note.

_Naruto,_

_Listen to your mother._

_-Namikaze Minato (Yondaime Hokage, but most importantly, Dad.)_

Naruto looked dumbfounded. The Fourth Hokage was his dad? He stared at the page, reading both notes over and over again. He closed the book and held it against him. Tears started falling from his face.

"Tou-chan… Kaa-chan…" he whimpered as cried tears for the parents he never knew. He soon felt a pair of arms wrapping around his back in comfort.

"It's ok, Naruto." Hogosha said, his calming words affecting him. "A ninja does not show tears, but right now you are as human as everyone else, let it out."

As so Naruto cried. He cried and wailed in the anguish of his unknown loss. Few heard it, but those that did could tell that it was genuine. No training could make _that_ sound fake.

After a few minutes, the crying stopped, and Hogosha looked at Naruto.

"Feel better?" he asked as he released his hold on him. Naruto only nodded. Hogosha was silent for a moment to let Naruto regain himself, and then he spoke. "Do you know the significance of your name, Naruto?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "You mean fishcake?"

Hogosha laughed at that. "Jiraiya-sensei was the same with the name, coming up with the inspiration from eating ramen. Ah, that reminds me. How about we go for Ichiraku after this?"

Naruto's face lit up big time. "Really? YATTA! You're the best sensei ever!" he jumped at Hogosha laughing in joy, the older man soon joining.

"Hahaha! Ok, ok, but only after I give this lesson." Hogosha stated.

"Aww… no fair! Lessons are boring!" Naruto whined.

Hogosha chuckled. "Maybe how your teachers told you, but I have… status in the field. Hehe, now, one's name can describe things about them before even getting to know them at all. Take your father's name for instance."

"What about it?"

"Namikaze can be reformed as 'wave wind', while Minato means 'harbor'. Thus, 'Harbor of the Waving Winds' means that he can be a pretty calm person and can accept anyone, but get on his bad side and the seas will be rough. Now, what does my name mean?"

Naruto was thinking again… it was starting to hurt. "Hmmmm… oh! 'Protector of the Black Fire'!"

"Very good. I hold a few secrets of my own, Naruto, and my name brings out one of them. Now, let's discuss some of the other clans. Aburame is translated as 'Oil Woman', which I find unusual considering little to no oil is used in their style. I believe it was changed for some reason from Aburamushi, or 'cockroach'."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, most people would keep calling them Gokiburi!"

"True, now let's get to a good name combo: the Ino-Shika-Chou. The surnames Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi refer to something each clan is known for socially. Yamanaka means 'in the middle of the mountain' where springs form and some of the most beautiful flowers can flourish. Nara, from what I recall, used to be an area known for its tame deer. Akimichi literally means 'autumn street', where food vendors are usually found at festivals. The 'Ino-Shika-Chou' phrase comes from a really strong combo in Hanafuda, or 'flower cards' using 'boar', 'deer', and 'butterfly' in that order. I haven't played the game, so I can't really say if it's that way for certain."

"Wait! _Now_ I get why Sakura-chan always calls Ino 'Pig', even if she doesn't look like it."

"Ah, but you may not notice, Naruto, but Ino has a good nose for sniffing out gossip, and digging in the dirt for all the juicy details."

They both laughed at that.

"Ok, who's next?"

"Hmm… the Inuzuka. Their name means, 'hill of dogs', which is noted through their practical symbiosis between their canine companions. Their first names are simple, referring to their dog's traits. Such as 'fang', 'claw', and 'nose'. Pretty silly, if you ask me. The same can be said for their dogs, but some of them are really good conversationalists."

"Huh… cool. Who's next?"

"The Hyuga. Their name means 'towards the sun', and I find it sad that for their clan's 'all-seeing eyes' that they are so blind!"

Naruto looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"They believe themselves royalty and take little interest in what they believe isn't 'best for them'. Morons…" Hogosha turned to Naruto. "Naruto, from what you've seen of the Hyuga, how do they act?"

"Um… well, they hold their head up like they smell something really bad, even if I bathed. The only one that isn't like that is Hinata… she has her head down a lot and turns red when I get near her… is she sick or something?"

'_Oh, she's sick alright. And she's gonna get a visit from Dr. Love~… wow, that sounds way too cheesy. Note to self: do not write that in the books; give it to Jiraiya-sensei when you see him.'_ Hogosha thought, then turned his attention back to Naruto "Not in the way you think, Naruto. Let's continue, shall we?"

"Okay."

"Next up is the Senju clan -"

"Senju? Who's a Senju?"

"Senju was the family name of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages, Hashirama and Tobirama." Hogosha stated. "They are called 'the clan of one thousand skills', but it is rumored that they can utilize a 1000-hand seal jutsu that is impossible to counter and can do so in a single instant."

"Sugoiiiii… hey! What about Jiji's clan?"

"The Sarutobi clan? Heh, alright. Sarutobi means 'monkey jump', which shows with their clan's summons of apes and monkeys. I once used the monkey summons in a battle back in Iwa. It was a very enlightening experience, let me tell you."

"How?"

"Another time, Naruto. Now, the old man has two titles for himself: the God of Shinobi and the Professor. What does that say about him?"

"That he knows lots of jutsu and would like to teach them?" Naruto questioned. Hogosha chuckled.

"We'll find out when we see him tomorrow, ok? Now we must talk about Uchiha…"

"Awww. Not the Teme's clan!" Naruto groaned. "My other teachers always said nice stuff and how strong they were. I don't wanna hear it!"

"Well it's a good thing I'm telling you because I don't care if the Uchiha's name is dragged through the muck. I actually want to see it happen."

Naruto's expression changed instantly. "You have my full attention, sensei!"

"Good. Uchiha is another way to say Uchiwa, a type of fan that is used to increase flames in furnaces. This is shown in their preference to Katon jutsu and their penchant for war."

"War? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that every single war, battle, rivalry, and conflict in the History of the Shinobi World was started by the Uchiha. Blood has been shed, lives lost, families eliminated… all for the sake of greed and power." Hogosha growled in frustration.

"Why would they do that?"

"Naruto, the Uchiha's Sharingan is capable of copying any jutsu it sees outside of kekkei genkai. They started wars to steal techniques from friend and foe, but most were enemies, especially the Senju and Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki? My clan was hated?"

"On the contrary, Naruto, your clan was well-liked. But let me finish ranting about the Uchiha, ok?"

"Got it."

"Now where was I? Oh yes, the Uchiha's lack of popularity. So anyway, a little less than 80 years ago, the Uchiha were on their last reins and the Senju, being led by Hashirama-sama, offered them sanctuary by creating Konohagakure no Sato. All the Uchiha but one, their clan head Uchiha Madara, wanted to stop running and agreed to join the Senju and the other notable clans. Madara, being a 'true' Uchiha, left Konoha and swore revenge upon the clan that betrayed him. Later on, Madara returned to face Hashirama for Konoha. But he had a secret weapon."

"What?"

"The Kyuubi no Youko."

Naruto was shocked. Madara had the fox? He was feeling a lingering rage emanating from inside him.

"Yes. The Sharingan has two more forms: the Mangekyou and Eternal Mangekyou. There are certain prerequisites to gain them. For the Mangekyou, the Uchiha must kill their closest friend."

"WHAT? That's stupid!"

"_That's_ nothing. The Eternal Mangekyou can only be gained afterward by replacing their eyes with their own sibling's Mangekyou."

"That's even more stupid! Why would they kill their own family?" Naruto raged.

"As I said, they only do it for power. And the Eternal Mangekyou has enough power to control the Bijuu. That was how Madara used the Kyuubi against Hashirama. It was a fierce battle in what is now known as the Valley of the End, Hashirama's kekkei genkai of Mokuton jutsu was powerful enough to withstand the Kyuubi, and later released the forced bind used by Madara to control the Kyuubi. After the battle, the Kyuubi was sealed into its first Jinchuuriki, or host, Uzumaki Mito, Hashirama's wife."

Naruto was shocked again. He wasn't the first to hold the fox? Hogosha continued.

"You see, Uzumaki are inherently immune to the Sharingan in totality, meaning that any Uchiha can't copy anything an Uzumaki throws at them unless they already knew it, which was unlikely."

"So… I need to make sure I don't be friends with Sasuke-teme and not let the furball out near him?"

Hogosha blinked and started laughing.

"Hey! What's so funny?"

"Haha-hahahaha-haaa… sorry, Naruto, that's just how Mito-sama referred to the Kyuubi when he made her mad."

"EH? Really?"

"Really. You're more Uzumaki than you think. Now, Uzumaki obviously means 'whirlpool', but it's your first name that's the real significance."

"…you went and gave me a history and grammar lesson _just_ to tell me the meaning of my name?" Naruto deadpanned.

Hogosha shrugged. "I like building suspense, sue me."

"Oh, I'm Gonna Sue Ya!"

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the lesson."

"That's not the point!"

"You sure about that, 'Maelstrom'?"

"Yeah, I- wait, 'maelstrom'?" Naruto asked.

"Yup." Hogosha stated, "That's the other and _true_ meaning of your name. Uzumaki Naruto: the 'Maelstrom of the Whirlpool'. Sounds powerful, doesn't it?"

"Yeah… it does…" Naruto grinned wildly. "Maelstrom of the Whirlpool's Waving Winds, future Fire Shadow…" He chuckled.

"Sounds like a mouthful. Oh, and you can't reveal your father just yet."

Naruto's expression was shock and disappointment. "What? WHY!"

"Naruto, if you went out and told people you were the Fourth Hokage's son, what do you think would happen?"

He thought for a second. "…they'd say I was lying and try to kill me again…"

Hogosha subconsciously tightened his grip at those words, but relaxed to continue. "Exactly, so I am going to train you to use everything your old man and your mom could do. Hell, I'll even throw a few of mine in the mix. Sound good to you?" Naruto smiled with his foxlike grin.

"You know it!"

"That's what I like to hear! Now make some shadow clones and I'll have one of mine take you to your new home."

Naruto stood for a second. "New home?"

"Of course! You'll be staying with me at my place. I've got more than enough room, and a training area you'll just _love_." Hogosha smiled genuinely.

"Okay, but why the shadow clones?"

"Shadow Clones can't exactly eat ramen at Ichiraku's. Trust me, I tried and so did Kushina. The extra noodles and broth stay in place after the clone disperses." Hogosha had a tear in his eye. "Such a waste of good ramen…"

Naruto dramatically gasped. "The Horror… THE HORROR! Hold me, sensei!" he lunged for comfort, but Hogosha held him back.

"Sorry, kid, but I have a strict one hug per day policy unless stated otherwise… and no, your Ninja Centerfold does not count nor will it change the policy."

"Darn it!" Naruto exasperatedly said as he created several shadow clones to grab all his stuff and Hogosha made one of his own as the real two set off for Ichiraku's.

* * *

_(Aburame Compound)_

"Father, I have returned." Shino stated. He had the documentation scroll in his arm and the rollcake in the other.

"So it can be seen. Who is on your team?" Shibi, the Aburame clan head, asked stoically.

"Inuzuka Kiba, his dog Akamaru, and Hyuga Hinata. Our jonin sensei is Yuhi Kurenai."

"A tracking team? Logical enough." Shibi then took notice of the scroll and the rollcake. "For what reason do you have those items, Shino?"

"A notable shinobi that was apparently hidden and removed from the academy lessons came during our team placement. He offered us all the chance to become his apprentice, but I believe it was a ruse to help one of my classmates."

"Who?"

"Uzumaki Naruto. While the shinobi proceeded with the test, he effortlessly defeated my classmates with little use of ninjutsu or taijutsu, only going out against Uzumaki using a high form of taijutsu called Rasenken. The test was for one of us to make contact with the target, who we all thought was the shinobi, when it was really Uchiha Sasuke that was the target. After the test, he asked Hinata and myself to join him and discuss our reasons for not acting in the test. I gave my reasons and he gave me this scroll to give to you." Shino placed the scroll in front of him. Shibi was curious.

"And the rollcake?"

"A sign of good faith, I would assume."

"And the notable shinobi's name?"

Shino looked at his father. "Kurohi Hogosha."

Shibi's eyebrows were up at the name as he looked at the scroll before him. He opened it and the first words could be seen.

_To the busiest man of the Hive – Hogosha_

Shibi had – while unseen – a smile on his face. Hogosha was never one to dislike those that were different. He was a social person, much like his teammates, and he always treated Shibi like a normal person, something an Aburame never took for granted. He then looked back to his son.

"What do you think of Hogosha?"

Shino took some time before answering. "Hogosha-sensei is brash, proud, yet wise, but he holds some pain of his past. I expect him and Naruto to get along well."

Shibi nodded. "My son, I doubt you could be more right."

* * *

_(Inuzuka Compound)_

Kiba was grumbling in his room that he screwed up on the test. Akamaru was in a similar mood to his master.

"What's wrong, pup?"

Kiba turned and saw his mom at the door. He flipped over and looked at her, discouraged.

"Nothing, Mom, I'm just mad that Naruto's getting special training from some hotshot shinobi." He said.

"Uzumaki's got a sensei? Who's stuck with him?" Hana slipped in. Kiba looked annoyed.

"Some guy called Kurohi Hogosha. You know him?" Kiba asked.

Tsume and Hana looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"You're kidding, right?" Hana stated in disbelief. "The Blue Fury's back?"

"What's the big deal?" Kiba asked, "He wasn't brought up in classes, so he can't be well-known, right?"

"Pup, he _is_ a big deal." Tsume said. "Out of my generation, He, Kushina, and Minato were the only ones I could consider True Alphas."

Kiba looked surprised. Alpha was the Inuzuka title for the most powerful and deserving of respect of the clan. True Alpha was even beyond that, deserving the Village's respect overall. He was glad that no Uchiha ever was described as either of them.

"And if he's training Naruto, he's gonna be your generation's True Alpha." Tsume stated.

"HA!" Kiba barked. "That'll be the day."

"It will be, brother," Hana stated. "And with Hogosha-sama, that day could be very soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to collect all my _Kokoro Ninja _books so I can get him to sign them!" She sped away to her room, her Haimaru triplets following.

Tsume sighed at her eldest daughter, secretly wanting to do the same thing, and then some.

* * *

_(Ichiraku Ramen)_

"Oi, Ayame-neechan! Three miso ramen, please!" Naruto called as he and Hogosha slipped in and took their seats.

"Hey there, Naruto. Who's your friend?" the brunette assistant asked.

"He's my new sensei!" Naruto beamed.

"Really? Then where are your teammates?" Ayame asked.

"Actually, my dear. Naruto is my only student." Hogosha explained.

"I see… so what can I get you, Mysterious Sensei?"

Hogosha chuckled. "Well, it's been a good while since I had good quality ramen, so I think I'll have a Shippuu (Hurricane) Ramen, if you could be so kind."

Ayame was confused. "Sir, I don't think we have that varie-"

"It's okay, Ayame-chan." A voice said from the back. The all looked to see an older-looking man with tan skin and squinted eyes. "It's a house special that's very exclusive. I don't put it on the menu for everyone to order it." He looked at Hogosha. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Hogosha."

Hogosha smirked. "It takes nerve to see old friends after so long, Teuchi."

Teuchi's smile turned jovial and he laughed. "Hahaha! Same old Hogosha. I guess this means I can take out the old photos?"

Hogosha grinned. I was hoping you would, since Naruto's getting the full info course."

Teuchi was soon under the counter and returned with three framed photos. One had the white-haired man from the back of the book and Minato as a kid. There was also a black-haired girl with barrettes in her hair and a tan boy with light brown hair that was squinting at the camera.

"Dad… is that you and Mom?" Ayame asked as Teuchi was putting the picture on the wall.

"Yep. It's me, Keimi-chan, Minato-kun, and Jiraiya-sensei."

"EH!" Naruto exclaimed. "You were on the same team as Da- er… the Yondaime?" Naruto quickly caught himself, remembering Hogosha's warning.

"Hehehe, well, I was a ninja, but due to a mission searching for Kushina, me and Keimi-chan could never be full ninja again. But we didn't mind, we both felt that we were holding Minato back since we became a team. He was always ahead, but he encouraged us to keep going, and when we couldn't be ninja, he was really saddened. But that didn't stop Kushina and Hogosha from becoming his teammates for the Chunin Exams. Ever since then, the team was unbeatable." Teuchi put up another photo, this one of Jiraiya again and an older-looking Minato, but this time, a taller blue-haired boy in a red jacket and a girl with long red hair and a yellow battle kimono were in place, all grinning like crazy at the camera.

"You guys look really happy." Naruto said.

"We were, Naruto… we were…" Hogosha said sadly, he started rubbing the scar across his neck.

Teuchi decided to brighten the mood. "Hey, if it wasn't for you three, this place wouldn't be here."

"Really?" Naruto and Ayame asked in surprise. Teuchi nodded and put up the last photo. In it were Minato, Kushina, Hogosha, Teuchi and Keimi in their late teens, although Teuchi looked a bit older than Hogosha. You could also see Keimi holding her stomach. They were all in front of the ramen bar at its grand opening.

"You didn't age gracefully, Teuchi. You look like you're in your late 40s and you're younger than me." Hogosha snickered.

"Ha-ha, laugh it up, Blue-boy." Teuchi snapped back in mocking. "You're just lucky I don't have you on the banned customers list."

"Ah! Now I remember you!" Ayame said, and she pointed at Hogosha, who looked at her curiously. "You're Mr. Black-and-Blue!"

Hogosha face-faulted, Teuchi laughed, and Naruto looked at him curiously.

"Another title, sensei?" he asked.

"More like a child's attempt at saying my name and mixed it with my hair color." Hogosha grumbled. He looked at Teuchi. "So how about that ramen, _old_ friend?"

"Heh, you're just lucky that Naruto's my best customer." Teuchi said as he turned to the stove and started cooking away.

"Hey, Teuchi-jii, do you know what my mom's favorite ramen was?" Naruto asked.

Teuchi thought for a moment. "I believe that her favorite was salt ramen, surprising considering that she hated things that were bitter."

"Then I'll take one of those along with the rest of my order!" he exclaimed. He then turned to Hogosha. "Hey, you never said what Mom's name meant."

"I didn't?" Hogosha thought about it, and realized he was right. "Guess it slipped my mind. Anyway, Kushina was named after the wife of Susano-O, the God of Seas and Storms, her name was Kushinada-hime, and Susano-O saved her from the Eight-headed Demon Orochi. Now, Orochi has nothing to do with the Bijuu, so relax on that note."

"So Mom was named after a goddess? Cool!" Naruto felt happy at that.

Hogosha smiled, but it was short-lived as he felt a presence and a hand shot at Naruto. Hogosha grabbed it and jumped outside to see the assailant.

"Hatake Kakashi… you're late."

The masked jonin merely eye-smiled at him. "I am just here to pick up my student, Hogosha-san."

Hogosha glared at that. "Didn't Sai tell you? He's my apprentice now."

Kakashi just looked at him. "Apprentice to a missing nin?"

Hogosha grinned. "My banishment was lifted five years ago, and I've been a freelance shinobi for even longer. I was never missing nin, you just assumed it. Like you assume that by taking Sasuke that you're doing Obito a favor."

A glare was in Kakashi's eye. "I'm not that little kid you pushed around back then, _sensei_."

"Wrong. Ever since you got that Sharingan, you've been pushing everyone. I just push back. And as the fourth strongest of Konoha, you know I can push _hard_. Now what are you really here for?"

"Hokage-sama wants to see you."

"And I'll get to him on my own time. I'm having a nice dinner with my new apprentice. So scram." Hogosha flung Kakashi into the air and went back to his spot in Ichiraku's; he looked at Sai, smiling like he did before. "He obviously didn't take it well."

"He was muttering about insubordination on the way here." Sai said.

"That Sharingan is obviously affecting his brain." He laughed. "You're dismissed. Oh, and keep an eye on the Uchiha. Never trust him, though."

Sai nodded and disappeared in a burst of ink.

'_Sumi Bunshin (Ink Clone)? Not bad, kid.'_ Hogosha thought as he took his seat and saw their ramen coming out.

Shippuu ramen was similar to other ramen, but most would say it looked like a messy dish. In fact, it is an amalgamation of all types of ramen merged into a swirling cacophony of taste and aroma. Only the finest connoisseurs of the sacred noodles could even dare to even look upon such majesty.

Well, at least that's what Mito said when she made it.

But she was right. Shippuu ramen _was_ the best and Hogosha was going to enjoy every last drop.

"Oh, Naruto," Hogosha said as he saw Naruto already with his face full of noodles. _'So much like her…'_

"Yeah, senshei?" Naruto said with his mouth full.

"It seems the old man wants to see us, so let's finish these quick."

"Yahoo! Hey, can I try your shippu ramen?"

Hogosha grinned. "Only if you finish yours and I'm not done yet."

Naruto grinned at the challenge. "You're on!"

* * *

_(Hyuga Compound)_

Hinata steadily walked through the hallways of her ancestral home, the weighted _swish_ of her now long hair obvious. The sugar rush from the cinnamon roll smorgasbord wore off a while ago.

Hinata was getting used to her new hair, and several members of the branch house looked at her in surprise. Heck, even some of the main house were looking at her differently. She soon came upon her father's study and knocked on the door.

"Enter." He heard him say.

She came in and sat down, her father's back to her.

"I-I'm home, otou-sama." She stuttered.

"So you are." Hiashi said without emotion. "Your teammates?"

"Ab-burame Shino a-and Inuzuka K-Kiba. O-our leader is K-Kurenai-sensei."

"Stop that infernal stuttering. It's unbecoming of a Hyuga." Hiashi stated. "There are rumors of a test earlier today. Obviously you didn't do well."

"H-hai… it w-was an exercise on d-d-discovering and taking o-out traitors a-and the s-sensei called me afterwards to discuss my actions."

"Who was this sensei?" Hiashi asked.

"K-Kurohi H-Hogosha."

Hiashi twitched slightly, keeping his stature. Of all people, why _him_? But was it him, or some elaborate prank? "Who was the target of the test, who completed the objective, and did he give off an unusual chakra signature?" he asked the questions in quick succession.

"U-Uchiha Sasuke was the target, b-but it wasn't revealed until N-Naruto-kun hit him, and it was different… but it had a normal flow." Hinata stated meekly.

'_Damn it.'_ Hiashi thought. It _was_ him. Why of all people was _he_ back? He turned around and finally saw his daughter. Her long indigo hair flowed behind her as she pressed her fingers together and her thumbs played with her hair tassels. He could only stare at his daughter before a single thing was said.

"Hi-Hitomi-chan?"

Hinata looked at her father in surprise. He looked surprised as well, and a little sad. She took a deep breath. "A-after the test, Hogosha-sensei took me and Sh-Shino-kun to a c-café and talked with us about it. After Shino-kun gave his reason and left, Hogosha-sensei talked with me and encouraged me to b-b-be a better person. He a-also used a jutsu to let my hair grow out, saying I-I'd look more like okaa-sama, d-despite the Elders saying that she was not to be spoken of."

Hiashi scowled at that. He never agreed to not speak of Hitomi, just the thought of not thinking of her was unthinkable! "Hinata, why would they say that?"

Hinata shrunk back at his tone. "Th-they said i-i-it would detrim-ment my training."

Hiashi saw red – er, well white, (wait, does that mean he sees pink?) – as he stood up to have a word with the 'esteemed' elders, but Hinata stopped him.

"P-please, Otou-sama, don't do anything. I-it may only hurt us in the end."

Hiashi looked at his eldest daughter, what she said made sense, the elders _would_ do something that could hurt them. "Then what would you suggest, Hinata?"

Hinata looked at her father. "P-perhaps we could ask for help f-from Hogosha-sensei?"

Hiashi blinked, and then sighed. As much as he didn't like Hogosha, he was probably the only person that could help in this sort of situation.

"Very well. I'll speak with him tomorrow. For now, go get your sister and meet me in the garden."

"Wh-what for?" Hinata asked curiously. She was worried that it would be a sparring match, and she wasn't ready to fight yet with her hair like this.

"I believe that it's long overdue that we had some father-daughter time." Hiashi said stoically, but you could tell there was some mirth in his voice.

Hinata had a small smile on her face as she stood up and briskly walked out of the room, her hair flowing in waves behind her. Hiashi could swear he not only saw his late wife, but a certain redhead silhouetting Hinata. He resisted the urge to sigh.

'_Of all people, why does it have to be Hogosha that could help us!'_

* * *

_(Hokage Tower)_

Hogosha and Naruto came into the Hokage's office to see Sarutobi and a couple of shadow clones doing the Kage's dread: Paperwork.

"Hiya, Jiji!" Naruto called.

"Hello, Naruto, how are you?" the aged Hokage asked as he filled out the last document on his desk. "Finally! I thought they'd never be finished!"

"Never say never, Jiji." Hogosha said. "You may just get twice as much as today."

Hiruzen gasped audibly, and then grumbled. "Keep that up and I'll have a heart attack."

The younger ninja snickered.

"So what did you call us here for, Hiruzen?" Hogosha asked.

Hiruzen gave a raspy chuckle. "Well, I was going to congratulate Naruto on his performance during your test, Hogosha, it was rather… 'Dynamic', to say the least."

They both groaned, Hogosha in exasperation, Naruto in irritation.

"I knew you were watching, Old man. Anko showing up just solidified the proof."

"And how was I supposed to know that Sensei could pull off my Ninja Centerfold better than me?"

Hiruzen chuckled. "Also, since you're back in the village, Hogosha, I believe I should give this back to you." He placed a bluish-white mask with a long nose on the desk.

"A Tengu mask?" Naruto asked.

"Correction, Naruto. An ANBU Tengu mask." Hogosha picked up the mask and took in the details, reminding him of the days he wore it. "Aside from Dragon, all demon/mythological creatures portrayed as ANBU masks are considered High-ranking Elites. But they stopped doing that a decade ago. Apparently, they were too recognizable and served little purpose in concealing the identity of the wearer. I wonder if it still has the…" he pressed the nose downward by the sides and revealed a short blade hidden within. "AHA! Still there, and it's been kept sharp." He then slipped the mask on his left arm to cover the shoulder. "Thanks, Hiruzen. Naruto, I want you to go with my shadow clone back to my place. We'll discuss your training in the morning."

Naruto groaned, but complied, following Hogosha's clone out the window. Hogosha turned back to the Hokage, seriousness on his face.

"Now what did you really call me here for, Hiruzen. This isn't a social visit."

Hiruzen's face mirrored Hogosha's. "You revealed an A-rank secret to academy students becoming genin -"

"Which I wouldn't have had to if it was part of the lesson plan."

"- Revealed an S-rank and two SS-rank secrets to the Hyuga Heiress -"

"She asked a question and I answered, simple as that."

"- Caused a stampede through the streets -"

"That was an accident."

"- and disregarded hospital protocol with a coma patient."

Hogosha slammed Renge's medical file on the desk. "Does THAT look like a coma patient to you?"

Sarutobi looked at the file, seriousness and curiosity on his face. "Who was the doctor at the room?"

"Don't know. His name tag was covered. Middle-age, black hair, glasses, purple turtleneck, and a creepy doll, sound familiar?"

"Maki… ANBU, I -"

"Don't, Saru." Hogosha stated before the ANBU could be dispatched. "There's a lot more going on here than I thought, and I need more evidence against the guilty parties. I already have someone working on it."

Hiruzen sighed. "So… how much does he know?"

"Almost everything." Hogosha stated.

"Even…"

"No, he doesn't know about Kushina as the second Jinchuuriki or… that night." He started rubbing the scar on his throat again.

"Hogosha-kun… there are sometimes necessary sacrifices -" Sarutobi was cut off at Hogosha's glare.

"Would you consider Biwako a sacrifice?"

Hiruzen glared back. "Don't bring her into this. This isn't about me, Hogosha, this is about you."

"Wrong, Sarutobi. The only sacrifices were Minato and Kushina and they weren't necessary… they were _slaughtered_ because of that bastard… and for peace… I will **kill** him." Hogosha growled, his fist shaking.

Hiruzen sighed. "This makes you sound just like -"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT, YOU WANNABE SILVERBACK!" Hogosha roared. "I am _nothing_ like that bastard spawn of an Uchiha that the pathetic council worships."

"*Ahem*"

Both look to see three old people near the front of the office, an old woman with two connected balls of hair skewered like dango, a tall old man with glasses and a serious expression, and a hunched man with dark spiky hair, wrinkles, half-covered in bandages, and an x-shaped scar on his chin. They were Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Shimura Danzou.

Hogosha growled. "Oh great, it's the Crone Patrol."

"You would do well to show us respect, Hogosha." Homura stated.

Hogosha scoffed and shoved his way to the door.

"Did you not hear us, Kurohi?" Koharu said.

Hogosha stopped. "There are only three elders I consider worthy of respect." He turned to the three, his eyes colder than a frozen night.

"And they died thirty years ago."

And he left the room.


	5. Demons of the Past!

**Sorry I took so long, I can never fully get what I think in my head on paper... or digital documents or however it's said nowadays!  
**

**So far... 34 reviews, 87 favorites, 122 followers, and four communities... methinks I need more reviews...  
**

**anyway, enjoy! (and REVIEW!)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Demons of the Past! Catching up with Those in the Know!**

Hogosha was walking the streets of Konoha, the sun setting in the distance. He was inwardly seething at the audacity Sarutobi said, thinking he was to abide by the "laws" the council set forth. Insubordination his ass! A freelance shinobi takes jobs he wants from anyone he chooses, and on his own terms. His mood changed little as he heard a voice in his head.

**(You know he's kind of right, boy,) **the voice said. **(You **_**are**_** acting like the bastard child.)**

_'I do __**not**__ want to hear it, Yataga-baka!'_ Hogosha seethed. _'I would think you'd be on my side, considering who the subject is.'_

**(Believe me, I want them dead as much as you do; even more so.) **Yataga stated, **(but even I will not brood over the past that cannot be changed.)**

_'_…_I know… goddamn it I know… but it just…'_

**(It hurts… the memory of their passing is not pleasant, nor is it one to recollect on in triviality, but you will have to tell the child everything soon.)**

_'Heh, tell me something I __**don't**__ know, Yataga.'_ Hogosha chuckled.

**(…You will be in an uncomfortable situation in the next fifteen minutes,)** Yataga stated, **(and your fan club has emerged.)**

Hogosha stopped and blinked. And then he heard it.

"There he is!"

"Kurohi-dono!"

"Sign my books!"

"Sign _me_!"

"Make me a woman!"

"Write me into your next book!"

"GIMME YOUR BABIES!"

"**HOGOSHA-SAMA!**"

Yes, ladies and gents. As much as Hogosha would _**hate**_ to admit, he was in a similar position to the Uchiha, but instead of being the last of a clan, the things a romance author puts in their stories fuel the passions and dreams of all females young and old… well, except for the old crones, but you get the idea. And such works have him as the most eligible bachelor of Konoha, if not the entire nations. And if his works were like that, the ladies' mindset went to how he was in bed.

Hogosha stared in shock and fear and he saw the second stampede of the day coming at him, filled with girls and women up to middle age.

**(Actually, this is more of a mob than a stampede, boy.)** Yataga corrected.

_'Not HELPING, Yataga-teme!'_ Hogosha yelled in his mind as he started running the opposite direction of the stampe- er, mob. Said mob continued after him for a bit, persistently praising him and pledging their undying love and loyalty, even the ones he could swear were married.

Seriously, how shallow some women can be…

Anyway, Hogosha leapt to the rooftops, attempting to get away to higher ground, he nearly succeeded and was about to relax when he remembered something crucial.

Most of his readers were _kunoichi_.

He barely got away as three chunin girls almost had him before he used a shunshin to get away and leapt to the next roof.

Once again, he was being chased across the buildings, and the mob pursued indefinitely.

_'Any ideas, Yataga?'_ Hogosha asked frantically as he dodged another jonin.

**(…)** Yataga was silent.

_'Oh, come on! NOW!?'_ he thought.

**(Say it right and I'll consider it.)** Yataga said with pride in his voice.

_'GRRAAAAH! You are __**impossible**__!' _Hogosha screamed in his mind, but he relented. _'"Oh Great Yataga-sama, Lord of the Winged Mountain, help this insignificant mortal in his time of need". There, I said it, ya walking ego. Now what do I do!?'_

**(Do what the child did when you first got here, boy.)** Yataga stated plainly. **(A few shadow clones might help throw this horde off as well.)**

Hogosha resisted the urge to smack himself as he dodged four genin, a chunin, and two jonin in one go. _'Why in the easiest solution ALWAYS overlooked?!'_

**(Because your kind ALWAYS makes things more difficult for **_**everyone**_**,)** Yataga grumbled.

Hogosha ignored his tenant and made twelve shadow clones and they all sped off in different directions, the mob separating going after each one of them. After the mob disappeared, a large vase on a rooftop terrace jostled and the tree placed inside it popped out, revealing Hogosha looking worse for the wear.

"Ughhhhh, I _hate_ getting stuck in confined places," he said, slipping out as best he could from the vase. "Though I have to admit, they had the fastest time –oof!" he fell out from the vase, almost breaking it. "- getting to me after I revealed myself, I think."

**(Hmm… five hours, 22 minutes and forty seconds.) **Yataga read off. **(That beats Ame's by twenty minutes and 36 seconds.)**

_'Huh, I thought Iwa had the best time before.'_ Hogosha thought.

**(They were short by two minutes. And Getsu and Tsuki still have a tie.)**

_'That__ I know.'_ Hogosha chuckled.

It was a little known fact that Getsugakure and Tsukigakure were rivals, considering the right of the Village name. Although they were practically nations away from each other, they still came up with the same village symbol, a crescent moon. This caused a bit of confusion when teams for each village came around. Hogosha came across two and came up with a compromise. Getsu had the normal way it was, and Tsuki had the symbol reversed. They agreed reluctantly, but they also didn't want to start a war. Hogosha then went to both villages and trained a good handful of shinobi. They kept their rivalry, but agreed that it would do little good for outright hatred. And thus, the Two Moons set aside all things petty between them.

Hogosha chuckled at the memory, but then noticed he wasn't alone. He looked around and saw a large dark blue-furred wolf wearing an eye patch and missing his left ear. His one eye looking up at Hogosha, they both smiled.

"Hey there, Kuromaru. How've you been?" Hogosha said, sitting down and petting the large animal.

Kuromaru gave an average-sounding 'woof'.

"Really? That's good to hear. And the rest of the pack?"

A growling whine was the reply.

"Yeah, Kiba does seem like the type. I could see him being a good leader in the future, but for now, Akamaru's the smarter of the two. Just like his mother, ain't he?"

Kuromaru gave an exasperated whine, placing a paw over his right eye where the eye patch was.

"Yeah, I hope it doesn't take that for him to grow up. So how is Tsume?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Hogosha cringed at the voice, but then glared at the canine companion. "You freaking set me up!" Kuromaru gave was Hogosha considered a dog's version of a chuckle, a raspy wheezing with the dog's eye closed and a grin on its face. He was about to tell him off, but figured that Tsume took priority at the time. "Hello Tsume, i-" he was cut off by dodging a claw from the wild woman and leaping to a clear roof. "Nice to see you too…"

"Can it, Hogosha. I'm not in the mood." Tsume growled out as she landed on the opposite side of the roof.

Hogosha decided to play a little fun. "Oh no? That's not what you said back in K-"

"Don't EVER speak of Kusa!" Tsume lashed out, aiming to take his head off, either would do. "You ruined my life with that!"

Hogosha was confused. "How is it _my_ fault with you getting drunk after the Chunin Exams for your daughter, me having to take you back to your hotel room, and you trying to have sex with me? Emphasis on try."

"Your little act had me in a premature heat for THREE MONTHS!" Tsume roared. She swiped at him again, with him dodging again. "Because of you, Dokuga left!"

Hogosha stopped, a bit of remorse in his eyes. "I heard about that, and I'd say I was sorry…" his eyes turned cold. "But you have no one to blame but yourself."

"SCREW YOU!" she screamed. "TSUUGA (Tunneling fang)!" she rushed at Hogosha again, spinning at an incredible speed.

'_Heh, 121 rotations per second. Getting sloppy.'_ He smirked and dodged, sending her skyward. "I would, but I've said it before and I'll say it again." His smirk became a full-fledged grin as he took a similar stance to the one Tsume did. "You. Are. Not. My. Type. Tsuuga!" he went into the spiraling drill, only it was _much_ faster than Tsume's as it was coming towards her. "Konoha no Nidai Hijutsu Ougi…" His attack hit home.

Right between Tsume's legs.

"Sennen Tanoshi (Konoha's Second Secret Finisher, One thousand years of Pleasure)!"

Tsume's face twisted into mixed emotions as he felt his fingers enter her, the maddening speeds from his Tsuuga only heightening the stimulation. She didn't even notice the chakra that was soon sending her across the village, which, thankfully, was where the hot springs were located at.

* * *

_(Back with Hogosha)_

"Aaaaaaand _Sploosh_," Hogosha stated as he saw the disappearing figure land into the line of buildings. He heard an indignant yelp, but brushed it off. "Well, now that all that's been taken care of, I might as well get home." He turned around but stopped. "Oh, Kuromaru?"

The dog perked his attention to Hogosha.

"If you come speak with me again and it has something to do with Tsume still being mad at me…" he brought his hand up with two fingers out and made a scissors motion.

The context was not lost on the canine as he sped away quickly.

Hogosha sighed as he jumped down to street level. _'*Sigh* Well, that didn't go as expected. Why of all people would she be the one to…'_ he paused in thought. _'Yataga, between the start of the mob and Tsume, how many minutes passed?'_

**(Fifteen minutes, as I already told you.)** Although he couldn't see it, he could feel his tenant's smirk. **(Honestly, Boy. After all these years I would think that you would trust me on these things.)**

Hogosha grumbled. _'Well Excuuuuuse me for being human!'_

**(I would, but that makes little difference, even for you, Blue Tengu.)**

_'Only you and those of Hoshi call me that.' _He grumbled.

The rest of the way was in silence as Hogosha walked through the streets, taking a good look at the budding nightlife as the sun was setting. A small smile graced his features as he recalled some of the nights with his friends. Chouza's eating contests, Inoichi's attempts at stalling brain freezes after ice cream bouts, Shibi's delightful conversation on the ways of the universe, Shikaku hiding from Yoshino, the Hyuga twins in a drinking contest, a more pleasant Tsume with an uninjured Kuromaru, heck, even Hiruzen's eldest son Wukon in a wrestling match. But out of all those times, Minato and Kushina were there, laughing, smiling, having fun, like…like…

"…Like nothing could happen to them…" Hogosha mumbled morosely. He continued his trek down the street. At least until he heard the distinct sound of a kunai launched at him. He quickly grabbed it before it hit his face and, knowing the tactic, grabbed the second kunai from the assailant behind.

"If you wanted to talk, this old gag wasn't needed, Anko." Hogosha said; his eyes closed.

"Now where's the fun in that, sensei?" he heard from her. He glanced behind and downward to see the woman smirking up a storm at him.

"Sorry, Anko, I just got away from a mad dog and rabid fans." He smirked, mimicking her. "Not necessarily in that order."

Anko relinquished her position as she stood a few feet away. "I would think so, sensei. So, how about some dango for old time's sake?"

Hogosha thought for a second. "Well, I wouldn't want to impose if it's girl's night, Anko."

Anko smiled. "Always considerate, sensei. But you owe me dango!"

"Now Anko, I -"

"Move it!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh." Hogosha held up his hands in defeat as she pushed him to the dango shop. Once there, they were greeted by Kurenai and a woman with long violet-colored hair in ANBU gear.

"Hi, girls! Look who I grabbed!" Anko said cheerily.

Kurenai sighed, but had a small smirk on her face. "At least you weren't in a stampede again."

"A mob, actually." Hogosha corrected.

"I heard about that." The ANBU stated, "You just can't keep out of trouble, can you, Hogosha-san?"

"Not if I can help it… er…" he struggled to find a name.

"Come on." she teased. "You saw my mom earlier."

"I did…?" he looked at her closely, and when she smiled, it dawned on him. "Yugao?"

"Got it in one, Hogosha-san."

Hogosha was surprised for a moment, but then smiled fondly. "I never considered you for ANBU; I always thought you'd be a medic Nin."

"Really?" Kurenai asked, both her face and Anko's in curiosity, well, Anko had three dango in her mouth.

"Of course!" Hogosha smiled, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Back as a little girl, when Hayate first got that cough of his in the academy, whenever he was at The Spiral Shoppe, you always insisted on playing 'Doctor' with him."

This had different effects on the women. Kurenai stifled a giggle, Anko was laughing, and Yugao was blushing up a storm.

Hogosha had a full grin going. "Oh, your parents thought it was so cute. You grabbed all the bandages you could and wrapped his arms and legs, took his temperature, the whole deal. And when you finished up, you always gave him kiss. And then you would -" he stopped as he felt a blade to his throat, Yugao's to be precise.

"Not. Another. Word." She said, the tone of an ANBU making the threat all the more cold. This did not have the desired effect she wanted as Hogosha grabbed the blade edge and pulled it away with ease.

"I don't take kindly to weapons at my throat, Yugao." His own tone matching hers, only reaching subzero levels no one outside of ROOT could even hope to match, and even for them it was hard. "You're lucky you're on my good side."

Yugao looked into his eyes – they were colder than the harshest genjutsu – and backed off.

Hogosha closed his eyes and took a long deep sigh. When he opened them again, they were the calm green eyes from before. "Sorry about that. Now where were we?"

For a good while, Hogosha and the ladies talked about the social niceties of the civilian and Shinobi areas. Hogosha learned a while ago that some spy networks are best in the village. He let Jiraiya have his extended network over the nations, but Hogosha got more refined info instead of 'I think he/she came through a while ago looking for *insert subject here*' simply from talking with a few kunoichi. Gossip was big, one of the reasons he drafted Ino for collecting info. And he could get a few plot ideas as bonuses. So during the conversations he learned a bit more about Naruto, considering his excessive neglect, his prank history (which gave his old team a run for its money), the village's "Ritual" on his birthday, he even learned that the kid had a small gardening hobby. That got him curious as neither Minato nor Kushina had very green thumbs. He was about to ask more when he heard something outside.

"HOGOSHA! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"Aw, hell." Hogosha groaned. "Damn her!"

"Tsume again?" Yugao asked.

"That obvious?" he grumbled as he got up and stepped outside to see his pursuer.

Tsume, for all visual and nasal purposes, was a wet dog. Soaked to the bone and pants shredded. Her hair sopping wet and covering her face, which only intensified the glare sent his way.

"I'm gonna kill you for that stunt, Hogosha!" Tsume growled.

Hogosha sighed as he looked at her, bored. "Do we really have to do this now, Tsume? I have a student to teach in the morning."

"Like I give a damn!"

Hogosha shrugged his shoulders. "Don't saw I didn't warn you." He said as he took a different stance, his hands out in front. "Konoha no Sandai Hijutsu Ougi (Konoha's Third Secret Finisher)…"

Tsume tensed as he lifted his arms above his head.

"NIGERU (Run Away)!" he yelled as ran off in the opposite direction. The people around were shocked at the legendary ninja running away.

Tsume shook off the shock and barked, "Quit running away, Coward!"

"Who's running?"

Tsume heard the voice from behind her, but before she could see him, Hogosha chopped the base of her neck and she collapsed into a boneless heap. Hogosha only sighed in disappointment.

"A petty grudge like that can hurt you, Tsume." He said plainly. "Just let it go."

**(You could take that advice as well, Boy.) **Yataga said. **(Practice what you're preaching.)**

_'I would if I could, but you know damn well I can't. It's hardly a petty situation with me,'_ Hogosha thought… shuddering at the reminder of _**that**_ night. He turned to a corner and called. "Hey Kuro, get over here and take your partner back home."

The large canine stepped out in the open, looking at Tsume in vexation before picking her up and slinging her across his back. He stared at the True Alpha and nodded his head.

Hogosha nodded back and added, "Make sure she _STAYS_ there." To which Kuromaru gave a reassuring bark as he went on his way. Hogosha sighed when they were out of sight and he turned to the ladies. "My apologies, but I really need to get home. Like I said, I have a student to teach in the morning." He quickly used a shunshin to get away.

* * *

_(Later on, at a medium-sized estate)_

Hogosha walked in silence to the gate of his abode, he was glad that he came back a few days ago because almost the entire estate was in disrepair. He silently thanked shadow clones for clean-up and damned the civilians for trying to get inside, as evident by the multiple scorch and burn marks on the surrounding wall.

Hogosha never liked civilians, especially the council-type. Those arrogant moneygrubbing fools thought _they_ were in control. Well, they would soon be in unmarked shallow graves if he got his way.

He soon came to the gate and chuckled as he saw a black painted fire decorating the gate. No doubt Naruto's handiwork. Looking around, he decided to add a bit more. Making shadow clones, he soon had a red spiral in a black four-point array and a yellow crescent moon with blue waves encompassing it on either side of the painted flames. He grinned at the nostalgia, as it was not only his home, but Kushina's and even Minato's for a time. As he admired the masterpiece in front of him, sensed a presence behind him. He soon grew irritated and spun around.

"Tsume, for the last time, I -" that was a far as he got as he looked at the silhouette in the fading twilight, the pineapple-shaped hair disclaiming his assumptions. "…Anko?"

Unlike earlier, this was not the Anko that was outgoing, brash, and headstrong. Her body language was actually similar to Hinata's earlier, but it was less shy. And he realized something as she quickly embraced him in a hug, her head in his chest.

This was the little girl he was forced to leave behind.

"I'm glad you're back, sensei." Anko said in a tearful whisper. Twelve years of pent-up misery was threatening to break out from the overwhelming happiness she was feeling.

Getting out of the partial shock, Hogosha slowly wrapped his arms around her. "I told you I would be, kiddo," he whispered, "and I'm proud that you became so strong."

Anko looked up at her second teacher, her eyes wet and red, but her face held a small smile. "I tried to help Naruto, like you asked me to, but…" she stopped herself.

"Those peons of the _honorable_ council and the elders denied you the ability to do anything, right?" Hogosha finished, a malignant hatred in his tone. Anko just nodded and let go from the hug. Hogosha just grinned like a feral beast and he patted her head. "Don't worry, kiddo. I have a plan that will have them begging for forgiveness. And if they don't? Well, they _will_… after some… 'coercing'."

Anko's small smile was now a full grin. Coercing usually meant interrogation, and interrogation involved her favorite pastime.

"Can I help, sensei? Please, please, pleeeeeease?" she asked like the small child Hogosha remembered. It was enough for Hogosha to laugh outright.

"Okay, okay, you can help. Remember, though: this is strictly off the books until I saw otherwise, got it?"

Anko nodded and gave a mock salute. "You got it, Sensei! I'll make Aunt Kushina and Uncle Minato proud." It took all Hogosha's self-control to not give her another hug, this one much more emotional. Instead, he looked at her with a small happy smile.

"That's my girl…" he whispered, not loud enough for her to hear as she ran off into the night. He turned and opened the decorated gate and stepped inside.

As the gate closed behind him, he took a look at his home. Down the path and across the yard was an older style home, raised on a stone brick hill to overlook the yard and the cherry blossom trees. Hogosha walked down the path, taking in the blossoming nightly beauty of the lightning bugs blinking in and out and the faint sounds of cicadas in the trees… he'd have to ask Shibi for some help with them later. Before, it was similar to a haunted manor than a home, thank Kami for deep pockets and good old D-rank missions of home repair he did way back when.

As he entered the home, his immediate task was finding Naruto and having a word with his tenant. He meandered through the halls, thinking on where Naruto could be… then it hit him. He was soon at a sliding door, and as he opened it, a small smile graced his features again.

Naruto was sleeping awkwardly on a large bed, in a room that could have easily held his old apartment. Hogosha smiled at the fact that the very room belonged to the boy's own mother.

_'He takes after her a lot more than I thought, but for now… I have an appointment to keep.'_ He walked up to the bed and performed the necessary hand seals. _'Ninpou: __Shintenshin no Jutsu__.'_

His sight was soon engulfed by darkness.

* * *

_(Naruto's Mindscape)_

Drip

Drip

Drip

The sound of water was what Hogosha heard as he came to. He stepped forward and felt water moving around.

'_I see… these are his unshed tears of pain.' _He looked at the dimly-lit high walls. _'and these walls… his indomitable will.'_ He kept walking down the hallway set out for him. _'He uses this as a mask to hide his fear and sorrow, but also reinforcing his strength… how very Uzumaki.'_

Hogosha soon heard heavy breathing coming from around the next corner. Turning there, he saw a large red and gold gate with a paper slip with the kanji for 'seal' on it. He stepped into the middle of the room, settling a hard glare at the prisoner behind the gate.

"It's been a long time… Kurama."

A red eye appeared from inside the cage and the slit pupil thinned at the sight of the man. The eye rose up and became two, glaring down in apparent superiority. Hogosha then heard a chuckling snarl.

"**So… the Prodigal Son has finally returned…"**


	6. The Secret Training Ground!

**_Wow_, this chapter took a LOT! even I wasn't expecting it to be this long. It really kept writing itself.  
**

**Hmm... so far I have forty reviews, 104 favorites, 48 extra followers, if you consider the amount of favorites is the same as part of the followings, and six communities.  
**

**WHOOHOO! I broke through the hundred-fave barrier with only five chapters! PRAISE THE LOG! **

**but I still need to break the review barrier, SO GET TO IT, MY LOYAL MINIONS!  
**

**We pick up right where we left off from last chapter, Enjoy!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Secret Training Ground! Fun Diplomacy?**

Hogosha scoffed at the fox demon before him. "I'm no prodigy. I hate that term with a passion."

"**Another reason to mock you as such,"** the fox called Kurama sneered. **"It's something I can finally do in this accursed prison. I just have to get the kit to cooperate and remove the seal…"**

"Which would mean I get to kick your ass again." Hogosha sneered back, Kurama's maw reforming into a snarl.

"**Don't Think Yourself Superior To Me, Guardian!" **Kurama roared.

"I don't. I respect demons. I despise the humans that become monsters. We are all above them. And they must be put in their place for the good of all." Hogosha stated solemnly.

"**Feh, you humans are all the same: greedy, hungry, and full of yourselves." **Kurama muttered, turning his head away in scoffing.

Hogosha quirked an eyebrow, knowing the perfect response to the fox's remark. "Oh? And the Rikudou Sennin was human, so he must fall under -"

"**DO NOT SPEAK OF RIKUDOU-JIJI LIKE THAT TO ME, HUMAN!" **Kurama bellowed, his form encompassing rage incarnate at the intruder. **"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF HIM, NOTHING! YOU ALL FORGOT HIS SIX PATHS AND MADE YOUR OWN OF DESTRUCTION AND CHAOS."**

Hogosha glared at the fox as if he were a mortal man. "And you, Kurama? Have you forgotten your father's teachings? Have you, the 'strongest' of the Nine Siblings, forgotten your purpose in this world?"

Kurama lashed forward, slamming into the bars of his prison. **"YOU DARE -"**

"**I think that's quite enough from you, boy."** A voice said from the shadows.

Both man and fox heard the flapping of wings and the rattling of chains, and they turned to a large human-like figure. He was dressed in robes befitting a noble or priest, a mixture of greens and blues with gold trim, his geta-sandaled feet floating above the water due to the large black and gray wings from his back keeping him aloft. His eyes were round and piercing, glaring at the two before him. On his head was a small hat that looked like a black beak. His most distinctive feature was a long prominent nose that was even more apparent with his light blue skin tone and gray hair. He held a long flat-tipped sword in his left hand. Across his torso was wrapped a heavy chain.

"Tch. He started it." Hogosha grumbled like a child.

"**Well I'm finishing it. We don't know how long until the child becomes conscious, so let's do what we came here for and be done with it."** The figure stated, and then he looked to the caged fox. **"I assume you know who I am?"**

Kurama glared at the figure. **"You're the Lost Daitengu. Lord of the Winged Mountain of the Demon Realm. Keeper of the Tenkai Blade that quelled the Great Youkai War… Yatagarasu."**

The newly-named Yatagarasu nodded. **"It's good to see that you know of us, Bijuu."**

Kurama only continued to glare. **"What in Jiji's name is someone of your stature doing with this ingrate?"**

"Oi! I can hear you, ya walking pelt!" Hogosha snapped. Yatagarasu and Kurama ignored him.

"**Like you, I am bound to a mortal. Only I was doing this by my own will." **Yatagarasu stated plainly. **"There are dark days coming, Kurama-san. The Plagued One will soon come after you again and it may be too late to stop it."**

"**Let him come. I refuse to work with such a pathetic human."**

"You know damn well that you can't do anything against him." Hogosha stated, glaring vehemently at the giant fox. "Twelve… _years_…" he growled out. "AND YOU HAVEN'T LEARNED THAT YOU HAVE TO WORK WITH US!"

"**I refuse to work with humans that will use my power for their own gain. None of them will hold my power."**

"And look how you ended up. Rikudou-sama is looking at you in _shame_, Kurama."

"**I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK OF HIM, HUMAN FILTH!"**

"I'll speak of him at my leisure, fox! Mito-sama and Hashirama-sama sealed you away so the Uchiha couldn't use you. If they didn't, you and your siblings would be nothing more than dogs to them and this world would be in ruin!"

Kurama glared at Hogosha, daring him to speak more. Yatagarasu decided to intervene before a battle could erupt and possibly destroy the Naruto's body.

"**I suggest we do what we need to and quickly, boy."** He stated, and then he stared at the demon fox, **"If his demands are reasonable, you may ask for an exchange deal."**

Kurama glared at the blue Tengu before him, but he relented. **"**_**If**_** his demands are reasonable, and that's a big IF." **He then turned his glare back to the human in his presence. **"What do you ask of me, Mortal?"**

Hogosha held up three fingers. "Three things, all for Naruto's sake; you with me so far?"

"**Just get on with it."** Kurama groaned at the thought of being treated as such by the man.

"First, you will willingly give your chakra and knowledge to Naruto when he asks for it and recall your chakra when the threat has been dealt with. As for knowledge, I know more about the world than most others care for or realize, but you lived through most of this, so I expect you to fill in the blanks. Got it?"

"**When I feel it as a threat to my existence… very well. Next?"**

"Second, I want your influence to be at a minimum on him when using your chakra. If more of you gets out than I deem it should, I'll make your prison cell more painful than your last one."

Kurama sneered in knowing. **"You wouldn't dare tamper with the seal and risk my escape."**

"Oh no? Try me, Furball!" Hogosha glared at the prisoner, daring him to call him out. "You should know that I hold little love for this village after what they did to me, to _us_. I know seals better than anyone else in the shinobi nations. One little tweak and you'll be in agony until you comply. You should be glad you can actually _move_ in this seal."

The great fox snarled once more at him, but he knew better than to trifle with the holder of a Daitengu. As he was glaring, he thought of something that put a loophole in the thoughts. The smiled sinisterly. **"So why **_**don't**_** you release me, Guardian? You said it yourself that this village betrayed you. What's stopping you from destroying them like the insignificant bugs they are?"**

"Three factors, actually." Hogosha stated as plain as day. "The problem isn't the village itself as a whole, just a few handfuls of figures that need to be tossed in the dump; second, releasing you to a rampage would make me no better than that bastard that did this to us, and finally, your warden."

"**What about the kit?" **Kurama asked.

"He wants to prove to this village that he's not a demon. That he's not _you_. And he holds _their_ dreams as his own." Hogosha folded his arms, glaring still at the fox. "Naruto will become the Hokage. And we will be with him in his endeavor."

Kurama grumbled, knowing he was beat in this battle. **"Fine, but you better be able to tell the difference."**

"I can. Don't worry."

"**Now, since we're on the subject of seals, I ask you to remove some."**

"Not happening."

"**Let me finish! When the kit was so young, several limiters were placed on his body. Remove them."**

Hogosha stared at the fox, thinking he was lying, but decided to humor him. "Alright," he pulled out a chakra path chart. Yatagrasu looked at him incredulously. "What? We're in a mind. Limitless potential." The tengu only stared. "We'll discuss this later. Kurama, where are these so-called 'seals'?" he brought the chart close enough the fox's cage so he could get a good look and be able to pinpoint the problems.

Kurama took a look at the chart and closed his eyes, sensing where these seals were. Using his tails, he directed where they were specified. **"There are four in his head, six on each limb, three around his heart, and two down **_**there**_**." **As he directed where the seals were, each glowed as a marker. Both human and tengu were agape at the multitude of what he was saying.

"**Please tell me you're joking." **Yatagarasu stated.

"**Do I **_**look**_** like I'm joking, feather-brain?"** Kurama glared.

Before Hogosha could feel another headache coming on, he made enough clones to go after the seals and sent them out. "When the seals are gone, the clones will dispel. I have to see Naruto's state from the outside." With that, he began to walk away.

"**Wait."** He heard Kurama call, and he stopped. **"There was a third demand. What was it?"**

Hogosha turned to the prisoner and held out his arm in front of him. "The Kyuuouda." Kurama stiffened. "When I request it, you'll allow Naruto to wield it."

"**No Deal!"** Kurama roared. **"I lost that weapon seven hundred years ago, and I reclaimed it three decades back, I will NOT lose it again to you mortals! How do you even know of it?!"**

"Like I said, I know more about this world than most care or realize. That includes Rikudou-sama's parting gifts to his 'children'." Hogosha glared at the fox still. "You want it to rust? Then keep it locked away. I'll just force it out. I ask since it'll mean less seal modification if it's done willingly."

Kurama was silent, contemplating his options, despite how few they were. In the end… **"Fine. But if the kit misuses it even **_**once**_**, he'll get nothing else from me; seal modification or not."**

"Fair enough." And Hogosha disappeared from the mindscape, Yatagarasu in tow.

* * *

_(Naruto's New Bedroom)_

Hogosha's eyes slowly opened and saw Naruto still asleep. Hogosha laid his head back against the wall and sighed.

'_Well that didn't go as smoothly as planned.'_ He stated.

**(You expected differently?)** Yatagarasu quipped. **(Boy, the Fox is by far the most cynical being you could meet. He's not exactly known for his humanitarianism. You should be lucky that he's honorable. I hope the child can handle him.)**

'_You forget who Naruto's mother is. He'll be fine.'_

**(And if he's not?)**

'_We'll be here to help. As will others.' _

He felt some of his clones dissipate and gained their memories. Two in particular left a BAD taste in his mouth.

'…_I'm really losing faith in this village and question if it's worth saving…'_

**(What are you tal-) **the tengu stopped his question as he went over the memory, **(…That is cruel, unusual, and sickening.)**

'_You're telling me.'_

**(Can we destroy this horrid place then? What they did must be brought to justice!)**

'_No. There is more going on than we realized… besides, why kill when we can make them sweat?'_

The Daitengu grinned widely at that.** (You've always had a twisted mind, boy.)**

Hogosha scoffed at that. _'No, just since that night.'_

**(Regardless, retribution will be most pleasing, don't you agree?)**

Hogosha was silent as he went over the seals his clones took down; one in particular caught his attention. It wasn't a dangerous one; rather, it was a simple seal that was to change something cosmetic. He looked at the blond and saw… red?

'_Is that… blood?'_ he looked over at the base of the boy's skull and what he saw made him smile, and then it grew wider as he did a few hand seals.

Yatagarasu, knowing what his landlord was up to, couldn't help but chuckle as the minor joke. Even one as esteemed as himself could not go against his personal nature, and tengu were known to be the rivaling pranksters with kitsune.

* * *

_(The Next Morning)_

Hogosha was in the kitchen making a light breakfast. As much as he didn't like to admit, one cannot simply live off of ramen. Instead, he was making mini pancakes with blueberries and eggs on the side. As he was cracking the eggs, he heard his tenant sigh.

**(I really wish you would stop that.) **he grumbled.

'_We've been over this, Yataga,'_ he retorted calmly. _'They are not raven eggs, they're chicken eggs.'_

**(Tell that to the giant poultry swarm that almost killed you.)**

'_One: that was a mission. Two: how was I supposed to know they had seals on them that made them indestructible berserkers that multiplied?'_

**(Perhaps if you had LOOKED!?) **Yatagarasu barked out.

'_You will never let me live that down, will yo-'_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGGGHH!"

Hogosha turned to the hallway where the scream originated.

'_Well, it sounds like Naruto's up.'_

**(Are you sure? It could be that ignorant spawn.)**

'_Nah, the pitch would be higher for him and we'd hear that girl squeal for him.'_

**(…Fair point, boy.)**

Hogosha then heard the accelerated pounding of feet against the hardwood floor as his new protégé appeared in the entryway.

His appearance was… bigger. He was about five inches taller, making him a little more than five feet, and his shoulders were wider by a fraction, as evident by the slight strain on his shirt. His unkempt hair was still its bright golden blond… except for the lower back of his head, which bright red in contrast. The red part of his hair was longer, extending down to the middle of his back. And his eyes…

Well, he was irritated and confused to say the least.

Hogosha smiled at him. "It's good to see that you're finally up, Naruto. Ready for breakfast and training?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

**(He's taking it rather well, don't you think?)** Yatagarasu remarked.

'_He isn't gibbering like a lunatic, so that's a plus.'_ Hogosha rebutted, and then put the pancakes and eggs on the table. "You had several seals place on you over the years, kid. I just removed them last night."

"YOU MEAN THE FOX IS -"

"No, that one's secure," he assured. "There were seals that, under anyone else, would cripple their mind and body. You not only survived, but surpassed them. If they were on for much longer, I doubt you'd be alive, and your… 'furry little problem' would be destroying the village."

"Wait…" Naruto calmed down at that last statement. "what do you mean?"

Hogosha sighed and rubbed his temples. "The sealing mechanism allows the fox's chakra to integrate with your system. The amount of seals placed on you were hindering your development and blocking chakra. That's a reason why you failed so much in school. To put it in simpler terms, these foolish villagers beating on you when you were younger was similar to playing soccer with a giant wad of hyper-sensitive paper tags as the ball."

"Dangerous and incredibly stupid?"

"Bin-Bon~ you are correct!" Hogosha smiled at the kid.

"Wait, those seals messed up my chakra! _That's_ why I can't do a normal Bunshin!"

"Eenh! Incorrect there."

"Nani?" Naruto was confused… again.

"Another thing about the Uzumaki Clan is… well, you could say it's a type of kekkei genkai."

"A kekkei genkai? AWESOME! That teme won't know what hit him!" Naruto started chuckling evilly.

"As much as I enjoy plotting impending agony on the duck-ass, may I finish my statement?" Hogosha was getting irritated, but in jest.

"Sorry, sensei."

"Now, this kekkei genkai is based off of chakra; a single Uzumaki had enough chakra at the age of six to rival a seasoned jonin, or even a Kage. The downside of this was the lack of control. Understand?"

"I think so… so I can only use super cool awesome attacks?"

Hogosha blinked, and then chuckled at the childish answer. "In a sense. For the time being, I'm gonna teach you to harness your chakra and your tenant's and control it, and then we'll see about techniques. Sound good to you?"

Naruto's smile was threatening to split his face.

"What are we waiting for, then?" he was about to speed off when Hogosha grabbed him by the collar.

"_I'm_ waiting for you to join me for breakfast." He smiled. Naruto simply rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, sat down at the table, and began to eat, his sensei joining in soon after.

* * *

_(After Breakfast)_

Hogosha and Naruto were taking a slow stroll through the hallways, Naruto getting impatient several times and attempting to run off ahead only for Hogosha to hold him back.

"Naruto, a ninja cannot always rush ahead. He or she must follow orders unless comrades are in danger." He said in an authoritative tone, but then held a grin on his face. "If it comes to that, _then_ you can go nuts!"

Naruto accepted the answer as he continued following the blue-haired sensei. The rest of the way was in silence and they soon came to the backyard.

It was a large fenced area about half the size of the front, which was pretty large in itself. Near the house was a field that could be used for training, but a small stream and pond was off to the side surrounded by a garden area. Across the way, there was a stone garden that took up a quarter of the yard and a wide black door that seemed to be imbedded into the mountain behind the wall.

"…Wow…" Naruto whispered, simply in awe at the sight. Hogosha took a side glace at Naruto and chuckled with a small smirk across his features.

"Come along Naruto, your training area is just behind that door." With that, Hogosha started hopping along the larger stones, subtly sending ripples in the white sand. Quickly, he was at the black door.

Not wanting to be outdone, Naruto tried to leap the full way across the garden. He made it halfway across before his foot touched the sand. No sooner than he did, the sand shot upwards into a pillar, dragging his foot along with it.

"AHHH!" Naruto screamed as the pillar rose about forty feet in the air. Hogosha just stood there and blinked.

'_Hmmm… perhaps I should have mentioned Suna's Hashira Kangoku Boei (Pillar Prison Defense) beforehand… naaah.'_

Naruto was frantic to escape and brought his hands together in a cross seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Soon there were thirty clones falling back to earth, some landed on the rocks, while others on the sand. Those clones were also caught in the sand pillars and soon dispelled, the pillars dissipating without their catch. Naruto took note of this and thought, _'wait! The sand's gotta be booby-trapped! So how am I gonna… oh duh! Kawarimi!'_ he switched himself with one of the clones, being sure to stay on the rock.

The switched clone dispelled and the pillar fell back into the sand. Naruto sighed in relief and glared at Hogosha, who simply opened the door and stepped inside.

"Matte! Sensei!" Naruto called out as he jumped from rock to rock and made it across to the door. When he opened it, he saw a path carved out into the mountain rock and lit by mining wires, yet he didn't see Hogosha. He started running further into the tunnel, the lights guiding his way. After about ten minutes, the lights along the wall dwindled and natural light was coming from the tunnel's end. Naruto dashed towards the light… which probably wasn't the best idea since there was a thirty-foot dead drop as soon as he exited.

As Naruto exited the tunnel and hit the ground unceremoniously, Hogosha clicked a stopwatch and sighed.

"Ten minutes, 57 seconds… osoi (too slow), gaki." He muttered as he put the stopwatch away. "On the way back, I expect you to cut that time in half. Got it?"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? I COULD HAVE DIED!" Naruto roared, ignoring the statement said. Hogosha only sighed, looking at Naruto.

"You wouldn't have died. The old fox wouldn't allow it. And furthermore, that was the watered-down version."

"How could it have been watered down? It's freaking sand, Baka-sensei!"

"Not literally!" Hogosha growled. "The original technique was designed to bind the enemy's limbs so they can't use jutsu. I only keep it in case anyone is stupid enough to try and use the back entrance."

Naruto sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. "You could have warned me…" he grumbled.

"That would defeat the purpose." Hogosha remarked. "A ninja must be aware of _everything_ and be ready for _anything_, even something completely random. We are not to show surprise to our enemies. It gives them a chance to strike."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto grumbled. "So where's this training area?"

"Right in front of you."

"Eh?" Naruto took note of his surroundings.

What was literally carved out of the mountain was an area about the size of the arena back in the village. In the center, and taking up most of the available space, was what appeared to be a model landscape. There were mountains that came up to his waist, a small pond, a sandbox-like area, miniature canyons, and what looked like a forest of Bonsai trees, each having what could be considered villages. Naruto looked at is in surprise, but he was also confused.

"Uh… sensei? Isn't this a little small?"

Hogosha chuckled at that. "So it would appear." He grabbed Naruto by the collar and lifted him up.

"Eh!? Sensei, What are you DOING!?" Naruto started flailing again.

"Having you take a closer look!" Hogosha laughed as he threw him into the model.

Naruto was thrashing around, trying to not hit ground. As he got close, though, he felt himself pass through a barrier of some kind and everything below him was growing larger at a fast pace.

"AHHHHH- oof!" Naruto made out as he hit the dirt. "Ooh… when I find that guy, he's in for a WORLD OF HURT!" he then heard a chuckle from the surrounding area. "Where are you, Hogosha-teme-sensei! Show yourself!" He heard the chuckling again.

"A ninja should never reveal himself to an enemy. A calling-out only shows incompetence, not something we necessarily want to have."

"Okay, fine! Then what's so funny!?" Naruto started shifting his eyes around, trying to find the blue-haired man.

"Ah, trying to get me talking to find out my location. Classic tactic, good thought process, but in the end…" he chuckled again, a more sinister droll this time. "Utterly useless against me. As for what I find so amusing, it is your phrasing of 'a World of Hurt', which is _exactly_ what this place is: a training ground more dangerous than all of Konoha's combined, utilized for training purposes. Welcome, Naruto, to your training ground…"

Naruto quickly turned around and saw Hogosha standing there with a small smirk on his face.

"Welcome… to Uraniwagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in my Backyard)."

* * *

_(Training Ground 7)_

At the same time, the members of Team 7 were waiting for their sensei, some more patiently than others.

"GRAAAHH! WHERE THE HELL IS HE!?"

See what I mean?

Now, as it may not be _clearly_ obvious, the roaring screech came from the girl with long hair in the color of bubblegum pink. Her right arm was in a thin cast from yesterday, the medics were able to mend her bones back in place, and recommended her to not to put any pressure on it in case it might break worse. When she got home later that night, her parents asked her if she ran into Hogosha-sensei and, although she was green at reading people, they were paranoid and her mother was a bit hysteric. Later on, her sensei came to her home and told her to meet her team at Training Ground 7 at five in the morning.

It was 8:30 and he hadn't shown up.

"He said he'd be here, so he probably is here watching us, Ugly."

And her only company - aside from her beloved Sasuke - was the pasty-faced boy showing his midriff.

'_Seriously, what boy does that? Now if it were Sasuke-kun…'_ her mind was starting to drool when her inner self spoke up. _**"HEY! HE JUST INSULTED ME! HE'S GONNA PAY FOR THAT, SHANNARO!"**_

She rounded on him and threw her fist back, forgetting that she had the cast on. As she got close though, she felt an ink tendril pull her arm back at the shoulder, and wasn't even close to hitting midriff-boy. Ohh, how she hated him. First he insults Sasuke-kun yesterday _and_ today, and has the nerve to call her ugly. At least Naruto would take the beating he deserved, speaking of…

"I wasn't talking about Kakashi-sensei, I meant Naruto-baka! He should have been here… er…"

The midriff-boy smiled that small smile, "Sai, and I am Naruto's replacement on this team."

Sakura smirked and gave a haughty laugh. "Ha! So the fool didn't make it. So typical of him."

"On the contrary, Ugly, Naruto completed then test and is now training under Hogosha-san." Sai stated.

"WHAT!?" she screeched. "How could that loser win and not Sasuke-kun!?"

Said avenger grit his teeth in rage.

"Because, Ugly, he was the only one to strike the target. Said target was actually Dickless over there."

"STOP CALLING US THAT!" she shrieked. "And that's playing favorites!"

"No it isn't. He said himself that he despises the Uchiha clan, so why wouldn't he have Dickless as the target?"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU! SHANNAROOO!" Sakura's thought process turned red as she intended to harm the pasty-faced boy beyond recognition.

And still no sign of Kakashi…

* * *

_(Uraniwagakure)_

Naruto was gaping at Hogosha as he appeared in front of him. He was calm and relaxed, and held a bit of pride in his stature.

"Uraniwa…gakure?" Naruto asked in all but a whisper. "What kind of a lame name is that!?"

Hogosha face-faulted at that, but quickly picked himself up. "It's not lame! It's just the most legal I can use! There's already a Yamagakure (Village Hidden within a Mountain), and it seemed more appropriate."

Naruto threw his arms behind his head and squinted his eyes. "Fine, fine. So what are you gonna teach me first, Hogosha-sensei?"

Hogosha folded his arms and closed his own eyes in a similar manner to his student. "How much do you know about the Shadow Clone Jutsu, kid?"

Naruto opened his eyes in curiosity. "Huh? I can make solid clones and it takes up a lot of chakra, and it can be used as a substitute for the regular Clone. That's it, isn't it?"

Hogosha opened his own eyes. "That's the basic principle, but there's another usage."

"Eh?"

Hogosha looked at his confused student. "Make a shadow clone and send it off into the woods."

Still confused, Naruto did so, sending the clone into the foliage. He then looked back to Hogosha.

"Now close your eyes." As he did, Hogosha pulled out a shuriken and threw it in the direction the clone went.

* * *

_(With Naruto's clone)_

'_I wonder what Sensei's plan for the Boss is… maybe it's those cool jutsu he promised, hehehehe,'_ the clone thought as leaped from tree to tree.

_Thunkshhh_

He quickly took notice of the sound. It was like something hitting wood at a high speed and not staying there.

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

There it was again, twice! C-Naruto started glancing around, trying to find the source.

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

The third one was the closest, and he saw it was a shuriken spinning madly and hitting the tree trunks, but bouncing off them to hit the next tree in succession. C-Naruto couldn't do anything to stop it, and decided to keep an eye on it. And he did.

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshhh_

_Thunkshink!_

Right between the eyes.

The momentum from the force the shuriken was moving had it pass straight through him, dispelling him. His last conscious thought was one word.

'…_Damn.'_

* * *

_(Back with the originals)_

Naruto opened his eyes in shock. He looked at Hogosha in a bit of panic.

"SENSEI! Someone's here and he took out my clone and…and… how did I know that?"

"Congratulations, Naruto." He held up his hand and Naruto saw the same shuriken fly out of the trees and Hogosha simply plucked it out of the air and put it back into his weapons pouch. "You have discovered the secret behind the Shadow Clone Jutsu: Memory Recall."

"H-how did you -"

"Know? Come on, kid. Your mother used it, I use it, and a few other shinobi can use it, but you, me, and your mom can use it to its fullest advantage: training."

That was something Naruto had a full-on grin that threatened to split his face again. "YATTA! LET'S GET STARTED!"

Hogosha's smirk mirrored his student. "Then make as many clones as you can and have them scout the area. As for you, sit down and meditate. Concentration helps promote chakra control, which you desperately need."

Naruto's grin never left his face as he brought his hands into the cross seal. "TAIJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" and soon, the entire area was filled with hundreds of clones. Hogosha blinked as they started spreading out, impressed by the sheer amount. _'Wow, not even Kushina made that many when she first learned it, Minato could only make several dozen, but even then I think he was holding back. I hope he's ready to deal with the consequence of all those clones.'_

**(Remind me again what that is; I seem to be unable to recall it.)** Yatagarasu stated, trying to think of what that consequence was.

'_Shadow clones not only have Memory Recall, but Physical Recall as well.'_ Hogosha told his tenant. _'Every exercise a clone does is administered back to the original. That's the humane version.'_

**(And the less humane version?)**

'_Any injury sustained by the clone will cause phantom pains upon the original, but thanks to Kurama, he won't feel a thing.'_

**(That doesn't sound too terrible.)**

'_Let me finish. The last part is psychological. With all the memories of the clones going through Uraniwa, the last part is rather cryptic.'_

He paused as he heard Naruto's groans of displeasure, his body shuddering slightly.

'_He sees and feels all the ways he "dies" in this place.'_

* * *

_(Three Hours Later)_

Hogosha sat there and watched Naruto try to focus with his clones' memories barraging his mind the entire time. He was also talking with Yatagarasu about the ways to train him later on. He was speaking of weapons training when Naruto laid back and groaned, clutching his head to stave off the impending ache that was sure to come.

"So… what have you learned?"

"You're a freaking sadist that enjoys my suffering."

Hogosha looked hurt by that statement. "That's not true at all. Your _enemies_ will be heartless sadists and will do anything to kill you. I am not your enemy, Naruto. I am your teacher, your ally, and your… never mind… Let's go get some lunch and some new clothes for you."

Naruto looked confused, not just by the clothes comment, but that he felt Hogosha wanted to say something else. He ignored it for the time being. "What's wrong with the clothes I have?"

"For one, they're not exactly a practical shade of orange. While I admit that being able to hide while wearing it is a great achievement, a darker tone would make it more difficult for enemies to see you." Hogosha shrugged. "Second, your little growth spurt won't leave much to the imagination in what you have, so I figure it'd be a good idea to get you some new outfits. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess… so how do we get out of here?" Naruto asked.

"I designed two ways to get out of here: the first is your body being about to be killed."

Naruto stared is surprise.

"Or you simply _want_ yourself out." Hogosha smirked at the second option.

"…EEEEEHHHHHH!? I could have just wanted to get out the whole time!?"

"Hey, Jikuukan (Space-Time) Ninjutsu is pretty tricky stuff. This has been one of my projects over the past decade. I'm just glad it worked."

"You used me as a guinea pig for this!? That's it! I want out of -"

There was a flash of light and Naruto was gone.

"Well, at least that worked like I expected it to." Hogosha said as he himself disappeared.

* * *

_(Outside Uraniwagakure)_

Hogosha appeared near the wall of the makeshift arena that held his training ground. He soon found Naruto staring out at the seemingly lifeless model that was Uraniwa, utterly amazed.

"So… ready to get moving?" he said, hoping to catch Naruto's attention.

Naruto turned his head to Hogosha, and a wide smile crossed his face. "You have GOTTA teach me that!"

Hogosha sighed in relief and mirth. "And I will when I find it necessary. So I hope you not only be my student, but my _best_."

"You got it, sensei!"

"That's what I like to hear! Now let's get back to the house." As he said this, he stepped onto the wall and started walking up, surprising Naruto even more.

"Sugei! Sensei, how are you doing that?!" he asked ecstatically.

Hogosha paused on his ascent, and turned around to look at Naruto. "They haven't taught you this?"

Naruto shook his head, his eyes turned down from being unable to impress his sensei.

While trying to remain impassive, Hogosha's anger was starting to boil. _'The technique is only a first-year academy level technique. How could he not… oh right, of __**course**__…' _he remarked cynically. _'They thought not teaching him anything would make him easier to kill, and that probably means the other kids are unprepared as well! Ok, move up tearing down the educational infrastructure and reworking to the end of the week, teach Naruto now.'_ He looked to Naruto and smiled. "This technique is called the Tree-Climbing exercise. This variant was developed by Iwa, but it's the main principle: gather your chakra to your feet and it will allow you to stick to solid objects. It's sort of like using tape or suction cups on your shoes, but you can move around freely instead of wasting time getting unstuck."

"Ah, I get it!"

"Good. This is considered the most rudimentary of chakra control exercises. Too much chakra and you'll be blown away and damage the tree, or wall in this case; too little and you won't stick. Now let's see it."

Naruto did as instructed, his feet starting to glow blue.

"Less chakra, kid. That's enough to take down a mid-level summon in one kick."

Naruto lessened the chakra and his feet dimmed down.

"Better. Now place your foot on the wall slowly."

As Naruto did, he felt his foot adhere to the wall, and he soon had his other foot there as well. He was now parallel to the ground.

"I…I did it! YATTA- eh? OOF!" his victory was short-lived as he lost focus of his chakra and fell back to the ground. Hogosha sighed, glad that Naruto achieved it, but disappointed that it didn't last as long as he'd hoped.

"Oh boy… I'm gonna go back to the house. Try and catch up." He started making his way up to the tunnel

"HOGOSHA-SENSEI!"

'_Oh, crap.'_ Hogosha thought as he turned around. That was the same tone Chouza's son used when he was mad… or hungry, he couldn't tell which. When he saw Naruto, he sped away from the rampaging genin dashing along the wall at impressive speeds.

* * *

_(Hokage Tower)_

Sarutobi and his shadow clones were busily scribbling away at the paperwork that built up overnight. Hiruzen cursed his luck that Hogosha was right. There was twice as much paperwork as the day before. As he wrote down a few more signatures, he was contemplating on what to do about Hogosha. Although he was in the village and his banishment was lifted, he wasn't actually a ninja of Konoha at this time. Perhaps he'd have to call him in later…

"Hokage-sama. There are more documents for you to sign."

He heard his secretary open the door and was followed by another stack of papers. Hiruzen and his clones groaned outwardly. It was like the council didn't want him to do anything but sign superfluous paperwork… maybe Hogosha was right about them…

* * *

_(Uzumaki/Namikaze/Kurohi Estate)_

Hogosha and Naruto were just about ready to leave. Naruto made good on beating his speed through the tunnel by half: Five minutes, 25 seconds.

Although clinging onto the target might have shaved off a few seconds of that time… maybe.

Anyway, Naruto was now dressed in dark blue pants and his normal sandals. He also has a ninja mesh shirt on underneath a white jacket with a popped collar and three blue stripes. Hogosha said it belonged to Minato when he was a genin. His blond hair was kept out of his face by his hitai-ite, while his red hair, after Hogosha's argument that it was his natural hair and not a genjutsu, tied it into a ponytail. He commented that it looked like a tail on the back of his head, to which Hogosha laughed as said that Kushina's was worse when she was angry.

So both Naruto and Hogosha were leaving the estate, Hogosha putting a seal array on the door so no one else could enter without them knowing, even though the barrier was still set up around the walls and above. When Naruto asked about it, Hogosha said only one thing.

"I fail to trust the Shinobi of the Leaf as much as I did twelve years ago. As for why? I'll tell you when the time comes."

Naruto looked around at some of the villagers, they didn't seem to notice him as much, considering he wasn't in his usual attire, only the much older ones looked at him with a sense of nostalgia. He then figured that he looked a lot like his father wearing the jacket. Maybe he could get it in orange…

"Ah, Hogosha-sama, good to see you." A voice said, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

The owner of the voice was an elderly man with gray hair in a short ponytail. He wore a mesh armor shirt under a short brown dirtied sleeveless kimono as well as grey pants. He had a smile on his face and was carrying a metal pan and several cooking utensils across his back and had a sword sheathed below that.

Hogosha saw the owner of the voice and smiled. "Kosuke-dono, it's good to see you too."

"Uh… sensei? Who's this old-timer?" Naruto asked.

Kosuke looked at Naruto and raised his eyebrows. "Minato-kun, surely you remember me. Especially back on that mission to Kusa way back when."

"Quit fooling around, Kosuke." Hogosha said, rolling his eyes. "You know who this is."

Kosuke gave a small cackle at that. "Always the serious one, Hogosha-sama. You haven't changed."

"More than you'd think." Hogosha mumbled.

"Anyway, Naruto-san, I am Maruboshi Kosuke, the Mannen Genin (Ten-Thousand-Year Genin), or Konoha's Strongest Genin. It is a pleasure to meet you." Kosuke introduced and bowed.

"Eh? You're a genin? You're as old as Hokage-jiji!" Naruto exclaimed, getting a light bonk on the head from Hogosha, who was chuckling anyway.

"Actually, he's three years my senior." Kosuke said, which earned another chuckle.

"I thought there was an age limit to shinobi ranks…"

"Not true, Naruto-san." Kosuke said. "Contrary to belief, a ninja's rank means little on the battlefield. Rank only works on mission limits, and even then they can be mismarked. A shinobi is only as powerful as their potential."

"Well said, Kosuke-dono," Hogosha said, "but I know you didn't come out here to give a lesson. That's my shtick."

Kosuke laughed. "Well, to put it in Naruto-san's words, the 'old man' wants to see you when you have the chance." Hogosha groaned.

"Not again… is he groaning about paperwork?"

Kosuke shrugged. "I'm not sure; I couldn't see him behind the piles on his desk."

They all shared a round of laughter at that.

"Alright. I'll see him after lunch. C'mon Naruto, we've got shopping to do."

"Hai, Hai." Naruto grumbled. "It was nice to meet you, Kosuke-jii!"

Kosuke smiled and waved to them as they turned the next corner. _'Uzumaki Naruto, your parents would be proud of you for your show of strength and ashamed of this village for their treatment. With Hogosha guiding you, I have no doubt that I'll be keeping my title as Konoha's Strongest Genin. Hehehehe.'_

* * *

"He seemed nice, kind of like the old man."

"I would think so. Kosuke-dono is quite powerful. His titles show that for sure."

"But why is he only a genin?" Naruto asked. "I thought he was jonin at least."

Hogosha looked at his student. "True, he holds the strength of a jonin in terms of skill, but he feels he doesn't deserve the rank, and for personal reasons, chooses not to advance. He takes the term 'Eternal Genin' as his burden for the mistakes of his past. That's all I can say about him. Ah! Here we are." The two were now outside a custom clothing store run by a doddering old man. The old man looked at Naruto and smiled.

"Ah, Minato-chan. What can I do for you?" he asked. Naruto was a bit perplexed at this, wondering what to do, until Hogosha set a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.

"Hehe, well, I was hoping to get some new clothes, I kinda ruined my last ones on a mission." Naruto said, changing his voice slightly hoping he sounded like his father just now. He looked to Hogosha, who gave a small thumb's up and a wink.

"Say no more, Minato-chan, I still have some in the back, and I know they'll fit. Do you want anything specific on them this time?"

"Uh… how about the vest spiral on the back?"

The old man cackled a bit. "Kushina-chan still riding on you about that? Well, we don't want her mad, now do we?"

Naruto chuckled nervously. The old man left the counter and hobbled over to the back room. When he was out of sight, Naruto turned and glared at Hogosha. "What the heck was _that_ about? Why did he think I was Dad?"

Hogosha only sighed, and crouched down to his level. "Naruto, You fail to realize how much you look like your father. And there are some people who are old enough to confuse you two. You have his eyes, smile, and hair… well, mostly. You also have your mother's face and her personality. When you said you wanted the Spiral on your jacket, I was surprised and proud."

"What do you mean? All the shinobi wear it."

"Naruto, the Spiral is the symbol of the Uzumaki Family. It is a sign that Konoha is allied with your family's homeland, the Land of Whirlpools, home of Uzushiogakure, the Village of the Whirling Tides. Konoha wears it in remembrance of Uzushio's fall."

Naruto was surprised and looked down at his feet, a smile gracing his features. "Hehe, I guess that means I have a lot to live up to, don't I?"

Hogosha grinned at that. "Yeah, you do. And I'm gonna help you." Naruto smiled even wider.

The old man was returning, carrying a long box. "Sorry I took so long. I didn't know if you wanted the same color as before, Minato-chan. I hope these are to your liking." He opened the box to show four sets of three jackets. One was the same type of jacket he had on, another was the reverse colors with the blue jacket and white stripes down the sleeves. The other two sets were the same make but different colors: Orange and Black. Naruto grinned like a wild man at the orange jacket. It was a darker shade than his usual color, but didn't Hogosha say that it'd make missions easier? As he tried on the orange jacket, Hogosha took out his wallet and paid the old man for his services.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir." Hogosha calmly said to the old man.

"I do hope you know what you're doing, Hogosha-sama. Teaching Naruto will be a huge gamble on your part." The old man stated as the money was exchanged.

"You're one to talk of gambling, aren't you, Hachinko-san?" Hogosha queried.

Kato Hachinko sighed. Being Dan's father was hard, and his death hit him and his wife harder than even Tsunade. Dan had inherited his father's gambling habit – something that Tsunade picked up on as well - and took a chance with setting up a spy network against Iwa back in the Second Shinobi War.

Although he never voiced it, Jiraiya's spy network was his way of remembering Dan.

"I'm just saying that most people in the village won't like that he's being treated… better." Hachinko muttered, trying to be subtle is his wording.

"Most _civilians_ won't like it. And if they come at me, they'll suffer the consequences; plain and simple."

"Sensei! How does it look?" Naruto called out as he showcased his new jacket. Hogosha saw the back and smiled. The red Spiral was there, inside the four-point array that the Uzumaki symbol was known for. On the shoulder, like Naruto's old jacket, was stitched a black fire design outlined in red.

"Very nice, kid. Hachinko-san outdid himself this time. We'll take them all."

"Pleasure doing business, Minato-chan, Jiraiya-sama," Hachinko said, acting as the doddering old man caught up in his past. Hoghsha smiled as he and Naruto left the store. "Good luck, Naruto-gaki…" he said under his breath.

* * *

"So sensei," Naruto started as they were walking down one of the less-crowded streets. "Where are we going to go eat? Can we go to Ichiraku's?"

"I was actually thinking for lunch that we go to our next stop."

"Eh? Where at? This better be quick though, I'm hungry!"

"We're stopping at the Hyuga Compound."

Naruto groaned. "Why there? It's full of blind idiots, you said so yourself!"

"Perhaps, but this entails one of the things you will learn under my tutelage: Diplomacy."

"Diplomacy?" Naruto asked, "What use am I gonna have with that?"

"As Hokage, you will have to discuss stipulations with certain clients and payment distribution between mission types that would be good for the village. Not to mention you act under the Fire Daimyo himself as a branch of military. A Hokage isn't being a popularity contest winner, it's about your commitment to the Will of Fire: 'the future to peace is paved with the compassion you have for your fellow man'. This is what Hashirama-sama had as his ideal for the creation of Konoha. The other four main shinobi villages have something similar in representing their country. The Wills of Stone, Lighting, Water, and Wind can show what the best choices for their Kage, but these days it can be overlooked and people can change with power…"

"Wow…" Naruto whispered. "So what else am I gonna learn from you?"

"Hmm…" Hogosha brought his hand to his chin to think. "You'll be doing escorts, tracking, espionage, retrieval of individuals, reclaiming items of importance, assassination, and - as I said - diplomacy."

"Aaaghh! This is gonna be hell!"

**(Not even, brat.)**

"Huh? Who said that?" Naruto was looking around trying to find the source of the voice.

**(I did, you idiot.)**

"Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Naruto! What did we discuss back in Uraniwa?"

"Calling out to an enemy shows incompetence, but there's someone here! I heard him!"

"Naruto, there's no one… wait, does he sound like an asshole, but not as much as the Uchiha?"

**(GUARDIAN! I'LL RIP YOU APART FOR THAT COMPARISON! Although I'm glad I'm still higher than those idiots.)**

"Yeah! He said he didn't like being compared to Sasuke-teme, but he's happy that you hold him in higher respect that him, so am I."

**(I AM NOT HAPPY!)**

"Shut up! Also, he called you a Guardian, what's that?"

Hogosha started chuckling, and then grew to a full laugh. "Congrats, kid. You just had a 'pleasant' conversation with your inner demon. Kudos!"

"EHHH?! The Fox is talking to me now!?" Naruto exclaimed, thankful that the streets they were on were empty. "Great! Just another thing I have to deal with thanks to you!" he grumbled.

"Hey, at least you have a teacher that specializes with demons." Hogosha stated, as Naruto just stared, "What? You think you're the only one with a demon inside them? There are nine others like you, Naruto, each bearing the same burden."

"So how do I deal with him now? It's not like I can say 'Oh don't mind me, I'm just talking with the Kyuubi'. Yeah, that'll go smoothly."

"For now, just ignore him. We'll discuss this when we have more time." He said as they came to the Hyuga Compound's gate, two guards standing there. "Now Naruto, the first thing you should know about the Hyuga clan is that they are very traditional. So watch closely." He then turned to the guards and cleared his throat. "*Ahem* Kurohi Hogosha and Uzumaki Naruto request permission to speak with Hyuga Hiashi at once."

The guard on the right looked at the two of them with his cold eyes and said, "Your request is denied, commoner."

Naruto was getting angry. "Hey! We came all the way over here and you're just gonna -" He was stopped by Hogosha holding his hand in front of his face.

"I see… Naruto, I believe it's time for your first lesson in diplomacy."

"NOW?"

"Yup, and it happens to be one of my favorite methods: Aggressive Negotiation." The guards stiffened at that and Naruto blinked in a confused manner. "There are two versions of aggressive negotiation. The first is the one needed to speak with is the head of the place and _wants_ to have the negotiation, but the people below him and his advisors refuse the negotiator entrance to have the talks. The second version is that they're all assholes and refuse the talks, but they must be present for them. And if I know Hiashi like I think I do, it'll be under the second version. Both versions take the same initiative: plow through the defenses and get to the boss. So guards," he grinned as he turned to the two Hyuga again. "If you would be so kind…"

The guards leapt at Hogosha, hoping to cripple him before he could take action. Hogosha only grinned wider as he grabbed their arms, twisted them, and flung them away the same way he did to Kakashi yesterday. Hogosha then stepped up to the heavy wooden gate. He cricked his neck and shoulders a bit and threw both arms back, his hands in the form of tiger claws.

"Nintaipou: Oni Geito Kaijou (Ninja-Martial Art: Demon Gate Unlocking)!" He called out, slamming his hands into the gate, sending it forward into the compound yard in splinters and sawdust. "Heh, never lost my touch."

The sound of the gate bursting open alerted the clan members as the converged to the front of the compound. They saw a tall muscular man with blue hair and a short blond boy with a red ponytail. The man held a relaxed stance and the boy looked slightly on edge, but not out of fear, but excitement.

"Who are you two to dare to enter the Hyuga Clan home?" one of the branch members spoke out. Hoghsha only looked at the gathering and sighed.

"As I told your guards, Kurohi Hogosha and Uzumaki Naruto are here to speak with Hyuga Hiashi on a matter."

"And what matter would that be, Kurohi?" said a voice from the second-floor balcony. Everyone on the ground floor looked up and saw Hyuga Hiashi standing there, looking as stern and regal as ever. Hogosha only had a confident smirk on his face, the kind of smirk he had when he was younger.

"Ya mind if we join you for lunch?"

The Hyuga members on the ground and Naruto fell over, the Hyuga face-faulting at the audacity and Naruto laughing at the hilarity of it all.

It was a sheer force of will that Hiashi not follow his fellow clan members' actions, or even twitch. He merely stared at the scene below.

"You destroyed the gate."

"I can pay for it."

"You barge into my home unannounced."

"I _did_ announce it; your guards were acting haughty."

"You are acting far too casual in my presence."

"You expect _me_ to kiss ass?"

"And… I was actually expecting all of this."

"Good to know that I can keep you on your toes." Hogosha smiled. "Now about that lunch…"

Hiashi sighed. He _knew_ Hogosha would pull something like this, although it wasn't as flashy as he remembered, the result was the same. "Follow me, guests."

Hogosha picked up Naruto and they both appeared on the second floor behind Hiashi. "Lead the way, Hiashi."

"Oi, Sensei." Naruto enquired, "When can you teach me that door-smasher move?"

"When I feel that you have good-enough chakra control. And only then when you use it for missions, _not_ to break into the Kage Vault."

"THAT PLACE EXISTS!? Jiji said it was a myth."

"Aw crap. I said too much."

"You've had a habit of doing that, Hogosha, considering yesterday." Hiashi quipped.

Hogosha glared at Hiashi, more specifically the blind spot that anyone outside the clan _shouldn't_ know about. "I've revealed information that is _necessary_ to know, Hiashi. I haven't even taken a splinter off the tree the village holds, but a few branches will need to be cut for fruit to bloom in the future."

Hiashi almost missed the underlying meaning of his words. He had more information and nothing would stop him from revealing it when he did. They came to a room with a small dining area and Hogosha and Naruto sat down.

"I will return with my daughters momentarily. Make yourselves comfortable." He said as he closed the door and Hogosha relaxed.

"Heh, so this was the first version of aggressive negotiations… maybe I'm getting a bit rusty at reading people."

"You said it, not me, sensei." Naruto remarked.

"Getting cheeky, kid? You'll pay for that later." Hogosha glared playfully at his student.

"What's stopping you now?" Naruto egged on.

"We are guests in the most traditional place in all Konoha. Starting a fight here in such a manner over triviality would be in exceedingly poor taste."

"Arrgh! Stop using big words! I'm getting a headache from it all."

**(Nah, that's just me.)** the Kyuubi smirked in his cage.

"Baka-kitsune! I'll get you for this!"

**(Oh really? I'd like to see you try, kit. Your pathetic father couldn't hit me, so what chance do you have?)**

"THAT'S IT!"

"Naruto!" Hogosha chided through his teeth, breaking Naruto out of his internal argument. "Keep a lid on it! We have incoming!"

No sooner had he said that, the door slid open to reveal Hiashi and a small girl with dark brown hair with parted bangs framing her face. Her eyes were the same as Hiashi's, but looking at the guests, she held confusion in them.

"Otou-sama, who are these colorblind idiots?"

"Colorblind!? What are you talking about, little girl!?" Naruto barked indignantly.

"You have blond hair and are wearing orange. You…" she looked to Hogosha, "have blue hair and wear a kimono top and a mask on your shoulder. This isn't a festival."

"What's your name, girl?" Hogosh asked, ignoring her comments on his choice of apparel.

"Hyuga Hanabi." She said with pride, but was confused when Hogosha chuckled.

"You're one to talk about this not being a festival, little firecracker."

Hanabi reddened slightly at the implication and turned away in a huff. Hiashi sighed, he had a feeling Hogosha would say something about her name.

"Anyway, I take it Hinata will be joining us soon?" Hogosha commented.

"Perhaps. She is with her team at the moment. So it is hard to say." Hiashi stated. Hogosha merely brought his hand to his chin and closed his eyes a stern look crossing his features.

"Considering the amount of noise the attack of the gate made and the amount of time we've been here, I give her about… ten seconds."

Roughly seven seconds later, the small groups heard the light steps rushing to their location. The door slid open quickly, revealing a panicky-looking Hinata.

"O-Otou-sama! What's going on? I ran here as fast as I could and saw the gate destroyed and…and… eep!" As you may have guessed, Hinata saw that there was company. "Hogosha-sensei, N-N-Naruto-kun!"

"Yo, Hinata. How's it going?" Naruto said, his eyes closed and oblivious to the world around him.

"Wh-w-what are you d-doing here?" Hinata asked meekly, her index fingers dancing around each other, her hair swishing slightly as she involuntarily ducked her head down.

Hiashi answered her question for the guests. "Hogosha-san and his… student decided to impose themselves in joining us for lunch."

Hogosha scoffed at the insinuation. "You make it sound like we were trying to take something by force."

"By reducing the gate to splinters? I believe the answer is obvious."

"I told you, I'll pay for a new one."

"It was pure white cedar."

Hogosha blinked. "No wonder it was so weak. I'll get you a redwood gate. That should be sturdy enough."

Hiashi's eye twitched, but relented, silently thanking Hogosha for paying out of his own pocket. "Lunch will be here momentarily. I decided on a grilled teriyaki-style today."

No sooner had he said that, the door slid open yet again to have several branch carrying in different meats and vegetables on platters. The scents merging and wafting around the room, tantalizing the guests' taste buds.

"Oho boy! It isn't Ichiraku, but it looks great! Itadakimasu!" Naruto took his plate up and was about to fill it with some of the meat until Hogosha smacked his hand, making him drop the plate. "Ite! What was that for, sensei?"

"Naruto, as guests, we are supposed to allow the hosts the first pick of food. It's an old tradition that's rarely practiced, but the Hyuga clan still does."

Naruto pouted again, something that forced Hinata to stifle a giggle before she herself took some of the chicken and a few grilled vegetables.

After everyone started eating (and Hogosha making Naruto eat some of the veggies), Hogosha started up conversation. "So Hinata, How was your genin exam with your team?"

"U-um, well, we are set to gather markers th-that were staged with t-traps within a certain period of time. I was able to grab two w-without assistance. Th-the others we needed to work together o-on."

"Good for you, Hinata. The Genin Tests with senseis are to promote teamwork within the teammates. Your test was a good set-up for you team's specialty of tracking. Although, now that I think about it, I remember Kurenai hanging out with Asuma when our team wasn't doing missions, it always seemed that those two were dancing around each other's feelings, and they still do it today. Ah, young love is a wonderful thing, don't you agree, Hiashi?"

"So it would seem, Hogosha." Hiashi said impassively, remaining focused on his food. This caused Hogosha to have another smirk on his face. The kind that promised humiliation.

"Now if I recall correctly, you were much the same way when you first met Hitomi-cha-" he was cut off at Hiashi's Byakugan-infused glare. Now this actually did little to him, but Hogosha had to keep up some semblance of respect, at least in front of Hiashi's daughters. "Eeehehehe… Hinata, Hanabi, why don't you show Naruto the garden? I actually have business to discuss with your father."

"H-hai, Hogosha-sensei." Hinata stuttered out, a blush threatening to burn the already cooked meat already across her face. Hanabi only huffed again and Naruto shrugged getting up. Hinata was surprised that she actually had to look _up_ at him now to see his face. She simply knew her crush on the blond – _'and redhead'_ her mind corrected, now taking notice of his ponytail – would only deepen, especially after all that Hogosha-sensei told her…

As the three children left, Hogosha rounded on Hiashi. "Something you want to discuss with me, Hiashi?"

The two simply stared at each other in contempt. The tension between them was utterly palpable until Hiashi closed his eyes and sighed.

"I need your help, Hogosha."

"Heh, tell me something I don't know."

"The Hyuga Elders forbid Hinata to speak about Hitomi, making me believe that she didn't care about her own mother." Hiashi stated with contempt. Hogosha blinked at that, staring at the Hyuga Head.

"…Okay, you've got me. So what do want from me?"

"I ask you to help me get rid of them. As you said, 'there are some branches that need to be cut for the fruit to bloom in the future'."

Hogosha folded his hands in thought, considering the possible situations and plans of counterattack. "Hmm… I have a plan, a crazy plan, but it will involve some serious work on your end."

Hiashi was nervous at this, wondering what horrendous thing he had to do to make this work. "And what would that be?"

"I can't simply barge into your elders' chambers, slaughter the whole lot of them, and be done with it. This… needs an audience. But for now, I can only ask you to continue being a father to your girls and a clan head in separate. Without Hitomi, Hinata needs someone that loves her, and you're one of the few that can."

Hiashi sighed in relief. "I believe I can do that."

"Can you?"

Hiashi looked at Hogosha again, this time, the blunet was glaring harshly at the white-eyed clan head.

"I've already cleaned up one of your problems, Hyuga Hiashi. This is much more than simple justice. This is changing everything your clan is. Can you deal with that?"

Hiashi looked down, weighing his options. If he didn't, it would mean his daughters would suffer. If he did, there was… _paperwork_ to deal with afterwards from the drama Hogosha would ensue. Then there was another matter.

"What do you want in exchange?"

Hogosha grinned at that. "Now we're getting somewhere. As for what I want doesn't matter, it's what Naruto needs: a teacher in chakra control. Hinata is the perfect candidate for this."

Hiashi quirked an eyebrow at this, "I'm not sure I follow…"

"By the Flames of Amaterasu, Hiashi! It's obvious! Out of everyone in your clan, she's the only one that would willingly help him with _anything_ he asked of her. The girl is more enamored with him than most of the characters in my books are with each other. Speaking of which, I gotta see how those two interact. C'mon!" Hogosha grabbed Hiashi by his robe and pealed out of there, heading straight for the garden.

* * *

_(With Naruto and Hinata)_

Naruto and Hinata entered the garden without Hanabi, she said that since Hogosha wasn't her sensei, she didn't have to listen to him.

The garden itself was about half the size of Hogosha's backyard, but it had much more foliage present, flowering trees and bushes created a path onlookers could walk through and see everything.

"Wow, Hinata, this place is really nice!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Th-Thank you, N-N-Naruto-kun." Hinata managed to stutter in a whisper. "My mother planted this garden."

"Really? Wow, I'd really like to meet her! She must have great taste."

"A-ano… she passed away over six years ago…" Hinata mumbled as her head drooped down. Naruto was surprised at that.

"…Gomen, Hinata. I didn't know." He muttered an apology out to save face.

"I-it's okay, N-Naruto-kun, y-you didn't know…"

"But hey, at least you have memories of her, right?"

"H-hai, she was always kind to people, no matter what…"

"I wish I could know about my parents. Sure, Hogosha-sensei is going to tell me, but… I just want to see _them_ now, ya know? I want to show them that I'm strong enough to go through everything set before me. I want them to be proud that I can prove that I am someone the village should respect!"

"I-if anyone can do it… y-you can, Naruto-k-kun." Right now, she was mustering up all her courage and willpower not to faint. And she was barely over her emotional edge on that part.

Hiding behind a tree, Hiashi and Hogosha were watching the two interact, and Hogosha was scribbling away in a small journal.

'_Oh yes,'_ he thought as he was writing, _'Hinata __definitely__ fits the role of the Yamato Nadeshiko type. My next book is gonna be a hit!'_ he stopped as he saw a flower blowing in the breeze float onto Hinata's head, its red-orange petals contrasting with her indigo hair. He started scribbling away again as he saw their reaction.

"Hold on, Hinata, there's something in your hair," Naruto said as he reached out to it

"E-eh?-!" she stammered as his hand closed towards her. She could feel her heart beat faster and faster as he slowly and tentatively slipped it out of her hair. As he brought it between them, he failed to notice her increasing blush. He thought she might be angry, so he thought to try and ease her fury.

"Hey, Hinata, your hair is really soft and smooth, a lot like silk, ya know?"

That did it. Hinata fainted right there and Naruto barely caught her in time.

"Eh? Nani?" Naruto was confused again, so he picked her up and sat her up on a nearby bench, and tried to wake her again like he tried yesterday. "Hinata? Hinaaataaa…"

"Kid, you really need a lesson on talking with girls," Hogosha quipped as he came out from his hiding place, Hiashi following with a stern glare. "But I have to say that was brilliant! Hahahaha!"

"What are you talking about, Baka-sensei?" Naruto said heatedly, "I talk with girls all the time!"

"Yeah, but they all hit you."

"Not Hinata!"

"And what does that say about her?"

"I…I don't know! Stop confusing me!"

Hogosha chuckled a bit. "Okay, Okay. But we're going to talk about this later on. Got it?"

"Whatever. Can we go now? Those guys at the end of the walkway are giving not-too friendly glares this way." He said, pointing to two older men at the opposite side of the garden. When they were noticed, they walked away.

"Hmm… perhaps you're right, Naruto." Hogosha said as he folded his arms. "I have to see the Hokage soon anyway, Hiashi. Thank you for your hospitality." As he bowed, he forced Naruto's head down as well.

As they were leaving, Hiashi looked at his eldest daughter. "It would seem that you take after _both_ your mother and me, Hinata-chan."

Hinata's only response was to curl up into a ball, holding the red-orange flower Naruto placed in her hand.

* * *

_(Konoha Streets)_

Hogosha was walking at a casual pace towards the Hokage Tower after he sent Naruto home. Sure, Naruto was arguing that he wanted to see the old man too, but Hogosha countered by saying it was senseis only. With that, he had Naruto go through Uraniwa to see how far he could get without being forced out via deadly situation.

Such a varying phrase, that was.

As he saw the Tower coming up, he couldn't help wondering the underlying reason Hiruzen asked him to come. With having a single student, the 'team passing' was really a formality for him, but he decided to humor the old man and to see what he wanted.

As he entered the Hokage's Office, he saw the nine jonin senseis that appeared in Training Ground 11 after he had the "test". He heard the instructor for Team 6 stating they failed, so he decided to make his presence known.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage, has passed his apprenticeship!" he said in a manner that was unbefitting a sensei, but no one called him out on it. He was a Sannin, no one back-talked a Sannin!

"How could you let the brat pass? He doesn't even have a team!" one of the random jonin asked, Hogosha thought he might be the one for Team 2, but that didn't matter.

"Ah, but you overlook, Houdan Eijiki, Naruto has the highest potential ratio out of all shinobi of the village. I'm just putting it to good use."

Eijiki only grumbled. His team didn't pass either so he was in a bit of a rut.

"Besides, Naruto can pass as a team by himself."

"How do you figure that?" said a weak-looking instructor.

"The potency of the Kage Bunshin, Jichou-san." Hogosha smirked.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, Hogosha. Quit hackling and let them finish their assessments." Hiruzen rebuked.

"But, Hiruzen-sama, I already know. I already spoke with Hinata at the Hyuga compound during lunch. Her team passed and she did quite well, correct?"

Kurenai straightened herself out before she spoke. "He's correct, Hokage-sama. Team 8 passed."

Hogosha nodded at that. "And Asuma, although he has a lackadaisical method of training, understands the importance of teamwork, especially with this generation of the Ino-Shika-Chou."

Asuma sighed as he lit another cigarette, much to Kurenai's chagrin. "Hogosha-sensei's right, Dad. Once Ino starts yelling at them, they fall into line. Team 10 passed."

Hogosha grinned similar to how he did earlier that day. "You really should try to kick the habit, Asuma. Kami knows what it'll do for the baby."

The tension could now be cut only with a chakra-infused butter knife. The no-name jonin present stood there with mouths agape, Kurenai was pulling a Hinata with an atomic cherry red blush, steam fizzling out of her ears, and Asuma's cigarette fell from his mouth as he was attempting to impersonate a fish out of water. Hiruzen merely held a stoic face as he reached for his pipe, lit it, took in a breath, and sighed.

"Am I expecting another grandchild soon?"

"NO!" Asuma and Kurenai yelled out in shock. Hogosha fell to the floor laughing at his well-executed prank. If he couldn't embarrass an old rival, he'd mess with his old student. Some pranks just needed a good amount of wording instead of over-the-top antics.

And wording was something Hogosha excelled in.

"Pity, it might help Konohamaru learn some responsibility." Hiruzen mumbled out loud.

"Maybe you could give them a joint mission over it, Hiruzen." Hogosha proposed.

"Hmm… that might not be such a bad idea…"

"D-Dad! Sensei! Quit messing around!" Asuma sputtered out. Kurenai was too far gone to speak in her defense.

"Oh, alright fine." Hiruzen sighed. "Hogosha, what would you say about Team 7?"

Hogosha stood up and folded his arms. "They will most likely fail, but Kakashi will pass them because long after the end of the test that they will realize it involved teamwork and utilize it in the bare minimum, if that. Furthermore, the Civilian Council will start bitching over the Uchiha not passing."

Hiruzen sighed, knowing that was _exactly_ what they'd do. "Very well, you are all dismissed." All of them left except for Asuma, Kurenai and Hogosha. Hiruzen looked at Hogosha. "I take you know the real reason why I called you here."

"Humor me, old man. I only said I passed Naruto as a formality." Hogosha looked stern at the aged Fire Shadow.

"I see. In any case, I would like to officially reinstate you as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf."

"Denied."

That one single word caused the tension to build up again, but in a completely different class than before. Kurenai was shocked, Asuma looked a bit despaired, and Hiruzen looked shaken.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I refuse to be instated as a Leaf ninja."

"So you will continue to be a missing nin?"

"Don't try to pull that card with me, Jiji. I was _never_ a missing nin. You cast me out and didn't give a damn."

Hiruzen was starting to get angry. "Now see here, Hogosha -"

"No. _You_ see here." Hogosha rebutted. "I have been to every shinobi village and have taught some of their greatest ninja of their generation. I did it as a Freelance Shinobi. I take on students, I do missions on my own terms, and I get the kids to take down jonin easy by the Chunin Exams. My system has worked thus far. I see no point in changing it."

Hiruzen calmed down again, knowing that he was right, the other nations were bolstering powerful ninja that he knew Konoha couldn't compete with at the time. Hogosha was smart in this, but there was one thing that didn't add up.

"If that is all so, then why do you still wear your Konoha hitai-ite?"

"This isn't mine. Your flunkies took it away from me."

"Then who's is it?" Asuma asked, worried over his sensei's hostility to his dad.

Hogosha slipped off the headband, letting his bangs cover his forehead. "See for yourself." He growled and he placed it on the desk. The three others in the room took a closer look.

Unlike normal headbands, which were gunmetal gray, this one had the look of unpolished gold. The symbol of the Leaf faced directly in the center, bit it appeared to be bisected down the middle, very subtle craftsmanship. At the top of the alluding bisect were two spirals spinning in reverse directions, they were small, and hardly noticeable, but they were there. Hiruzen and Asuma were shocked as they recognized the hitai-ite.

"Th-this is…"

Ho-how did you…"

Hogosha picked up the headband and refastened it to his head. "Wukon gave this to me as he was dying after a joint mission we ended up having together. I was working with Amegakure at the time and we finished up a mission for the Daimyo of the Land of Rivers. You know the rest: both our teams met with the Daimyo, one of yours guts Wukon and leaves the other for dead, the other recovers and I send him to deliver Wukon's body as a sign that I did not attack him. Of course, you know who the one who gutted him was."

"An Uchiha." Asuma growled out.

Hogosha gave a stern nod. "That was the last straw I had with them. I requested the River Daimyo to send word to all the other daimyos and to the shinobi village leaders of each nation - except for you – over the situation and that any Uchiha was to be killed on sight, no matter what."

"So you were the one…"

"That caused the hostility the other nations have against you? Yes. Outside of Konoha, I have done more for this village than I care for. The only reason I don't request the village be destroyed is because of Naruto."

"You can't possibly hold that much power!" Kurenai said, finally finding her voice.

"On the contrary. I may not hold the leaders in the palm of my hand, but I have shaken theirs on more than one occasion." Hogosha said with a slight air about him, but that diminished just as quickly. "If that is all, I'll be coming in tomorrow with Naruto for missions." He was taking a slow walk to the door.

"Jus…Just one more thing, Hogosha." Hiruzen stammered. Hogosha stopped but did not turn around. "A year before the Massacre… were you the one who issued the challenge?"

A dark chuckle engulfed the room, then it became a heavy laugh. "One hundred Uchiha, two hundred Sharingan. In only _ten_ minutes, not a single body twitched and they all stared out of ruined sockets. On that day, I gained another title I am proud of…"

He turned to the Hokage, a maddening expression in his eyes and a wide smile across his face.

"Uchiwa Tokkou, Hogosha the Fan Slayer."


	7. Hogosha's Group Lesson!

**First off, I am SOOOOOO sorry I took so long. I was doing a job for the election and then holidays and stuff and bladeblabla  
**

**Ok, so we now have 68 reviews, 150 faves, and 203 followers...  
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**_Go meee~ Go meee~ its ya birthday, aw yeah~_  
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**...ok... now that I got that out of my system, I gotta say that Kishimoto took TOO long for all the stuff now in the manga. I knew about Obito being Tobi since day 1, although my idea of why he was Madara was flawed, but would have been MUCH cooler.  
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**Also, a BIG thanks to the Master of Naruhina MattWison83 - the Mangakage of dA - for my story image! Go Matt-sama!  
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**so note the references I have made in this chapter, because there's gonna be a whole slew of them later on!  
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**Enjoy, my Minions!  
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* * *

**Chapter 7: Hogosha's Group Lesson! Affinities of the Soul and History of the Ninja World! (A/N, Part 1 XD)**

The rest of the day was rather uneventful for Hogosha. Aside from the occasional attempted glompings and several ladies asking for autographs (which he politely declined), he was starting to get used to being back in Konoha. Of course, he didn't particularly care about the village, but Naruto did, so he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. If things got… less than tolerable… well, a few dead bodies might wise them up.

Besides, it wasn't like they'd be stupid enough to try and force him to do anything, right?

"Hey, Demon lover!"

Hogosha stopped and blinked for a second.

'_I stand corrected.'_ He turned to see a mob of about fifteen people, most drunk off their ass. The one that called him out had a surprisingly high-quality katana, longer than others, making it an uchigatana. _'Idiot probably grabbed it off a battlefield. Doesn't even upkeep it,'_ he thought, noticing the minor chips and dried blood in the blade.

"We heard that you decided to take in that Uzumaki." The leader said.

"What of it?"

"By the Council, you are ordered to kill the Demon." The leader said, him and the rest of the mob with arrogant grins.

A tick mark formed beneath his headband, but his expression remained the same. "Oh? The _Council's_ Order? Very well." Hogosha said as he calmly walked past them. It wasn't until he was twenty feet away that the mob leader saw his uchigatana was no longer in his hand.

"Huh? Where's my sword?"

"In much more capable hands," the mob heard Hogosha say, but none of them could move for some reason. Hogosha glanced over the blade while the sheath was awkwardly held in the crux of his shoulder. "It's rather pitiful that someone like you attained it. I'd say you should be humbled that I take it off your hands…" he started slipping the uchigatana into the sheath, "but those are wasted words to a dead man." He quickly put the last inch of the blade in with a quick _chink_.

The group suddenly felt pain for an instant, and then there was only cold. They started feeling lighter, but couldn't move. They realised that they were bleeding profusely and they all fell to the ground… in little pieces.

'_Feh, worthless fools.'_ He thought in disdain, then held a twisted grin on his face. _'I wonder if I should have the Inuzuka dogs come clean this up… nah, not even I'm that cruel to the animals. Tsume'd throw a hissy fit over making her clan sick.'_ He laughed at that, simply walking away as it nothing happened. Several people looked at the display in fear. Such… madness and malice was beyond their understanding. None even came close to the flesh pile, fearing his return.

* * *

_(Several Blocks Away)_

Hogosha stopped in an empty street, the uchigatana still in its sheath. "All right, I know you're all there, so get down here to save me the trouble." No sooner than he said that, six ANBU surrounded him. "I take it this isn't a social visit."

"Kurohi Hogosha." One ANBU said, a bird mask covering his face. "You are under arrest."

"Oh please, spare me the drivel." He scoffed. "The dumbass was stupid enough to break the Third's Law in _my_ presence. That alone warranted his pathetic demise, the same for those other idiots."

"We have rules for these matters, Hogosha-sama." A female ANBU with a dog mask stated.

"Oh, you mean the courts? Hardly a fair system." Hogosha grit through his teeth. "They're run by bigot civilians and would hardly give them a slap on the wrist, if that." He started to walk away again. "If you want to try and stop me, feel free. I'm sure the hospital has a few beds open. If not, then I'll be on my way."

The ANBU didn't move as he walked past, not out of the previous situation, but because they were smart enough to back down. ANBU didn't get to be there out of idiocy, and no one was stupid enough to face a Sannin in a bad mood, especially the last of the Second Generation.

* * *

_(Namikaze/Uzumaki/Kurohi Residence)_

Hogosha entered his home and placed his scrolls to the side. The uchigatana was already sealed into the large scroll along with the rest of his arsenal. He planned to have them all worked on by a weapons smith he trusted. Of course, he could fix it on his own, but doing D-ranks didn't necessarily need weapons, even against that demon cat…

The blunet shuddered at the old mission to catch the daimyo's wife's cat Tora. Biggest - pain in the ass - EVER! But that honestly went unsaid.

Regardless, Hogosha tried not to dwell on the thoughts of his past. _'Some things are best left forgotten,' _he mused in his mind. _'No matter how much I am cursed to relive it.'_

**(You truly wish to be rid of that day, don't you?)**he heard Yatagarasu say.

'_You know my situation better than anyone else, Yataga,'_ he thought as he sat on his bed. _'Take a wild guess…'_

**(Try and rest, Boy. I'll try and keep your hauntings quick.)**

Hogosha sighed and laid down. He closed his eyes as sleep took over him.

His body twitched erratically and his screams echoed inside his mind.

* * *

_(The Next Day)_

Like yesterday, Hogosha was in the kitchen, this time sipping some coffee. He hated the stuff with a passion, but it was the best thing he had to take his mind off his nightmares. He casually drank the beverage, wincing at the horrid taste that passed across his tongue.

'_Bleck, I will never get used to this stuff.'_ He thought.

**(I rather enjoy it. It really keeps up the senses.)** Yatagarasu said calmly.

'_So you've told me over the years. How can you even taste it?'_

**(I believe you said yourself that the mind has infinite possibilities.) **the Tengu smiled. **(Also, you have a small food court in the taste center of your brain. I simply take the time to indulge myself a little.)**

Hogosha stared blankly into space at the answer. He would have mused upon it more, but he heard Naruto running through the halls. "Well, might as well get the day rolling." He said as he dumped the rest of the coffee down the drain.

Today, Naruto was wearing the blue jacket, bringing out the brightness of his hair. His red ponytail swayed in the wind. Other than his jacket, he wore the same thing as yesterday. He smiled at Hogosha.

"So what are we going to do today, Hogosha-sensei?" he asked excitedly.

Hogosha smiled back at him. "I think today we'll get started on missions. Sound good to you?"

Naruto practically whooped as he jumped in the air and rushed out to the front yard. Hogosha chuckled at his antics. So similar to Kushina and Minato, yet his own unique brand.

"Might as well get started… hmm… I wonder what we'll do for lunch…"

**(Could you pick up a few sandwiches? You're running low in here and that fish teriyaki yesterday was a tad undercooked.)**

"Yeah, Yeah. Freaking birdbrain."

**(I heard that!)**

'_Good. You were supposed to.'_

* * *

_(Tetsurugi Shop)_

Our two resident demon carriers entered the weapons shop to see a girl with her dark brown hair in buns resting her head on the counter, she had a few small bruises that appeared to be from training. What kind of training, Hogosha wasn't sure, but he could at least tell it was honest training. He looked at the sleeping girl's hairstyle.

'_Hmm… kinda reminds me of Mito-sama…' _he then got a wide grin on his face. _'Ohohohoho this is gonna be good.'_

He crept quietly over to her, having Naruto stand back, he grabbed two handfuls of senbon from a nearby display. Being as quiet as possible, he started arranging the senbon in her hair buns.

After about thirty seconds, Hogosha was about to set the last senbon in place when Naruto - being bored for the last ten seconds – accidentally knocked over a couple shelves of weapons over, sending them clattering to the floor.

"Bakayaro!" Hogosha shouted in a raspy whisper, becoming on edge. "Third rule of infiltration: NEVER make a sound!"

"Sorry!" Naruto squeaked out in panic.

Both looked at the girl at the counter. She had not woken up from the clamor, the senbon were sticking out from her buns rather hilariously. Just one more and the prank would be stable, otherwise they'd all just slip out. As careful as possible, Hogosha slipped behind the counter and, ever so subtly, slipped the last senbon through both hair buns. When it was in, he carefully pressed inward on the other senbon, piercing through like knitting needles skewering a yarn ball.

Hogosha returned from behind the counter and sighed in relief. This relief was short-lived as a kunai hit him in the face.

"Hogosha-sensei!" Naruto yelled as he saw his sensei's head be forced back. The bun-haired girl's head shot up, her arm extended out of reflex.

"Eh?" she looked forward with her dark brown eyes and saw a rather tall man being forced back and a short blond around her age. She then noticed the kunai seemingly imbedded in the man's unseen face. He mind immediately went into panic mode. "O-Oh God! I'm sorry!"

"Don't shweat it, kid." A voice said, his words lisped a bit, as he brought his head up, and both genin saw the kunai being clenched intensely between his teeth. "You jusht caught me by shurprishe, ish all. You've got a hell of a – ah damn it! I cub mah tunge." He stammered out as he released the kunai from his steel-tight jaw, sticking out his tongue which now had a stream of blood dripping out of it. "Houl awn, dis 'ill onwy taeke a sehcohn." He quickly put a hand to his mouth, a small amount of green chakra forming at his fingers. After a few seconds, he took his hand away and after rolling his tongue a few times to make sure everything was in order, he spoke again. "Ah, that's better. Now, Miss…"

"Tenten." The brunette said.

"Miss Tenten. I have some business for a mass weapons review and refinishing. Is Hagane available?"

At the mention of weapons refinishing, Tenten's eyes got bright. "Just a sec. Daaaad! Big order customer!"

"I'm coming, sweetie!" a voice called from the back. A few seconds later, an average sized older man appeared. He had dark brown hair and eyes and wore the clothes of a smith. He looked up at Hogosha and blinked. "Tenten-chan, when you said we had a big order, I didn't think you meant the customer."

Hogosha closed his eyes, irritated. "Oh, ha-ha. Real funny, Hagane. Make jokes at the tall guy. You're a real riot."

The man, Hagane, smiled. "Can't help it, Hogosha-sama. You're a _big_ target." He laughed at his own joke. "Alright, alright, enough of the pleasantries. On to business. Your order?" he asked, his tone becoming serious.

Hogosha pulled off the large scroll from his back and set it on the counter. "Total upkeep, don't sweat the small stuff."

Hagane looked at the scroll in surprise, but kept his composure and unraveled it a good foot out. The inside of the scroll was covered in seals of varying sizes. Both Hagane and Tenten were in awe, although Tenten's look was more excitement.

"Are…are all of these weapons?" Tenten asked excitedly.

"Yup. All from my travels." Hogosha stated.

"Is the entire scroll like this?" Hagane asked, his tone unwavering.

"Of course. I brought all the weapons I ever use."

"Is there any weapon you _haven't_ wielded?"

"Just two." Hogosha stated plainly. "One for sentimental reasons, the other…" he shuddered slightly, as if even mentioning it was taboo.

Hagane got the hint and avoided divulging further. He rolled up the scroll and set it behind the counter. "This will be very pricey, you realize. I can't say for sure the estimation."

"I can pay for it. At your rate of upkeep, those will take you… three, four weeks tops."

Tenten was surprised, her father was known for his speed and quality of their weapons, and this guy had enough to keep them busy for almost a month? How many weapons did this guy have!?

Hagane sighed, and then looked at Hogosha straight in the eye. "Three of the best."

Hogosha blinked, and then glared. "One."

"Two, and that's as low as I'll go."

Hogosha grit his teeth, but relented. "Fine, two of them, but out of MY choosing, Deal?" he held out his hand, which Hagane took in a firm grasp.

"Deal."

Naruto and Tenten looked confused at the exchange.

"Uh… sensei? What are you doing?"

"Dad, what's that about?"

It was Hogosha that answered. "Along with the payment, Hagane has the right to choose two weapons from my stock."

"In exchange, all later purchases from here on by Hogosha and his students are half off. As we agreed upon all those years ago." Hagane finished.

Tenten's eyes got wide at that. "W-wait, you're just going to _give_ two of them to us?"

Hogosha only folded his arms. "That was the deal. I'm a man of my word, as is your father, right, Hagane?"

Hagane nodded. "I promise they'll all be done by the end of the month."

Hogosha bowed and left the weapons establishment, Naruto following in tow.

Tenten looked at her father, "Are you really going to be able to get all them done, Dad?"

Hagane smiled at his daughter. "Tenten-chan, Hogosha has done much for this village, maintaining his weapons is the least I can do. Just… make sure you don't put any of these in your hair." he said as he lifted the scroll and carried it to the back room.

"Huh? My hair?" Tenten was confused at her father's statement. Why would she have weapons in her hair? It'd be impractical in battle. She went to touch her hair buns, but felt something stick out. She quickly looked at her reflection in one of the well-polished blades to see several senbon poking through her hair…

* * *

_(With Naruto and Hogosha)_

"Three, two, aaaand one." Hogosha counted down as they made their way to the Missions Office.

"_WHAT THE HELL!?"_ a loud yell was heard from the way they came. Hogosha chuckled and Naruto was laughing outright.

"Ah, the sounds of a well-executed prank." Hogosha mused. Naruto was sharing in his enthusiasm, but something was obviously bugging him.

"Hey sensei, why did you leave all your weapons with them if we're going on a mission?"

Hogosha didn't look at his student as they continued walking as he spoke. "I didn't feel it necessary to carry them on D-Rank missions."

"EH!? But why boring missions!?" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, D-Ranks have a reason behind them. They are necessary for development in certain areas. We'll discuss this more on the missions." He said as they entered the mission room. Hiruzen and Iruka were already waiting for the teams.

"Ah, Naruto, Hogosha. Glad you could make it. You're the first ones here." The Sandaime said.

"Hehe," Naruto folded his hands behind his head. "Come on, Jiji, you think I'd miss my first mission?"

"Naruto, show some respect!" Iruka berated.

"That IS respect, buddy." Hogosha stated to the facially scarred chunin. "His mother was the same with the old man, right?" he looked to Sarutobi, who twitched slightly.

Naruto looked at the Sandaime with wide eyes. "Really, Jiji? My mom talked that way to you?"

The old Hokage sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this, how very Hogosha to put him in this situation. "Yes, Kushina very well did, she claimed that there would be equal respect between Hokages past, present, and future." He tipped the hat over his eyes and said, "Kami knows what chaos she's causing in the next life…"

Hogosha's smile faltered as he too shifted his hat over his eyes, Naruto tilted his head down as well. There was a moment of silence between the three. Iruka decided to continue with the reason they were there.

"Er… Hogosha-sama, you came for a mission?" he asked warily.

Hogosha's hat flipped back and a relaxed expression was on his face. "Ah, thank you… Iruka, was it? Now, what missions are there… oh right!" he quickly turned to his charge. "Naruto, what element did you say you were?"

The question was met with Naruto's confused face. "What are you talking about, Hogosha-sensei?"

Hogosha froze, but you could faintly see a pulsing blood vessel on this head. He slowly turned to Iruka, who involuntarily twitched under the older man's gaze.

"Iruka-kun." He stated, not questioned.

"H-hai?" the scarred chunin stammered.

"You did go over elemental jutsu in your classes, correct?"

"O-only the theory, Sasuke was the only one who could use an elemental jutsu." He was able to say before a fist smashed through the desk before him. He flinched back and slowly looked up to see Hogosha glowering at him inches away.

"Naruto said you were his favorite teacher, the best he had." He growled out. "I can clearly see that his assumption only refers to your treatment of him." He pulled his hand back and looked at Sarutobi. "Hiruzen. Gather the graduated teams of the year and get me a classroom. No missions for them today."

Hiruzen's eyes went wide. "and why would you say that?"

"Because it is clear that the Academy system has diminished greatly over the past decade. It's time for a crash course." Hogosha stated, then took a moment to think. "Bring in the Academy teachers and the team senseis. They should learn how to really teach as well."

* * *

_(A classroom – now under the possession of the Legendary Teacher)_

Hogosha sat behind the front desk as he did when he introduced himself to this generation. Arms folded, feet propped up, hat covering his face, glancing around through the wicker of his hat. He saw Iruka sitting alongside a fairly large man with brown hair and a small goatee in standard uniform with a Leaf hitai-ite in a bandanna, and a woman with curly black hair and glasses obscuring her eyes; she was wearing a pink kimono over wire mesh armor. There were other members of the staff, but nothing too significant.

Team 10 was there, Shikamaru had his head already on the desk, snoozing away. Chouji was munching from an unmarked bag of chips; Hogosha guessed he figured out a way to use the marinade as a flavoring for homemade chips. Pretty smart too. Ino was surprisingly alert and watching Hogosha intently, if with a bit of anxiety showing. Asuma was mimicking his old sensei's posture, sitting with his students.

Team 8 was sitting as well, Kiba was fidgety, like he wanted to move… or attack something. _'Tsume probably told him about my "involvement" in Dokuga's leaving… greaaaat.' _Hogosha thought cynically. Shino was sitting so quietly you could barely notice he was there. Such a testament to Aburame stealth, it was. Hinata was glancing around worriedly, obviously over Naruto, who decided to disappear again, so no surprise there.

Even Team 7 showed up… well, most of them.

Sasuke was trying to set Hogosha's hat on fire by glaring at him, as futile as it was. Sakura, whose arm was still in the cast, was staring with admiration at the Avenger – Hogosha had to look away before he heaved his breakfast. Sai was sitting just as stiffly and quietly as Shino, still with that small smile on his face. Kakashi… well…

A knock was heard at the door.

"Enter." Hogosha said.

The door slid open revealing a shadow clone of Hogosha dragging a bound Kakashi. The clone threw the package into the classroom before dispersing.

"Late for class, Hatake? So unbecoming." Hogosha chided.

Kakashi only eye-smiled as he undid the bindings. "Sorry, I was about to come here, but -"

"Save it." Hogosha interrupted. "I don't need to hear your lame excuses. Go sit down."

"But I -"

"That wasn't a request. _Now_." Hogosha grunted, lifting his hat to emphasize the glare. Kakashi quickly moved to the back of the room and took a seat. Hogosha took off his hat and stood up. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin."

"A-ano… Hogosha-sensei?" a timid voice squeaked.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"Wh-where is Naruto-kun?" she asked.

Hogosha smiled at her and the rest of the class. "He's here, haven't you noticed?" the students and teachers looked around unable to find the orange ninja. Hogosha only chuckled. "To be unable to find an ally – or worse, an enemy – can and _will_ spell disaster in the field. Take notes, teachers, I may have to give you a pop quiz later on." He paused to allow his students to take pens and paper out. "Good. Naruto, come on out!"

A blue, yellow and red blur fell from the ceiling and landed in front of Hogosha's desk, putting the older shinobi on guard.

"Thanks for letting me drop in, sensei." The being said. He turned to the class and they were staring blankly at –

"NARUTO!?" most of his former classmates exclaimed. The exceptions were Sasuke, who only twitched in surprise, Shino, Sai – both were rather stoic and silent on the matter -, and Hinata, knowing about his appearance, yet almost fainting anyway.

The Uzumaki looked at the class and bared his wide grin. "What? You were expecting the old man?"

Hogosha chuckled at that. "I don't think they were expecting you at all, kid. Take your seat and let's get started." He said as he turned to the chalkboard and started writing.

"Hogosha-sensei, what exactly are we working on?" Ino asked.

"It has come to my attention that your progress as shinobi has been stunted to the point of a slow crawl, where it should be a long sprint. Understood? Excellent."

"Hey! Just because Naruto-baka is too stupid to know what's what doesn't mean the res- gakk!" Sakura started to rant before she started choking. After a few rough coughs, a piece of chalk coated in saliva landed on her desk.

"What my student has gone through is not because of poor student skills, but the lack of good teachings. I've seen it too much in my time, and I will _not_ have some stupid brat tell me otherwise." Hogosha stated, not looking away from the board. "First question, Haruno, since you decided to speak out of turn: list all of the jutsu you know."

"Transformation, substitution, and clone jutsu." The pink-haired girl stated proudly.

"And?" the blunet urged her to continue.

"Er… that's all…" she said, starting to get nervous.

"Then you're dead before you exit the gates."

This set a dead chill throughout the classroom.

"The Henge, Kawamiri, and Bunshin - or easier said the Basic Three – are techniques that must be perfected by the end of your first year at the Academy."

This not only shocked the genin, but the teachers as well.

"This system is in place so that if and when we are attacked, all can strike up arms. Primitive? Yes. Effective? Absolutely."

"But Konoha has always had more ninja, who would be crazy enough to attack us?" blurted out one of the no-name teachers.

"Quite a few, actually." Hogosha said offhandedly. "And from my experience, Quality of shinobi beats quantity every time."

He then stared at the entire class. "You will all meet here once every two weeks unless you are outside of the village, otherwise, it is mandatory. When here, the only ranks are teacher and student, where I am the teacher and you all are my students; everything else is moot. If you dislike my methods and complain, you are exempt from my classes permanently. You may hate me for what I put you through, but you'll sure as hell thank me when you come across your first combat situation. Any questions?"

When silence followed, he continued.

"Alright then. What do you know about elemental jutsu?"

Immediately Sakura's hand shot up.

"Yes, Haruno?"

"Elemental ninjutsu utilizes the five elements as weapons for each ninja." Sakura said haughtily.

"And how did this happen?" Hogosha questioned.

"Er… sir? We've always been able to do it," Sakura urged.

"Then your answer is completely… wrong." the blunet deadpanned.

You could _feel_ the room get twenty degrees colder as Sakura froze up.

"Wh-what? It can't be wrong! _I_ can't be wrong!" the pinkette started stammering.

The rest of the class was surprised at this development as well. Sakura _never_ got a question wrong.

"Well, you are. So keep that gaping maw of yours shut so you can learn something useful for once." Hogosha said without emotion as he turned back to the board.

Sakura went practically catatonic and the chunin teachers were murmuring to themselves.

"But Hogosha-sensei, that's what we've been taught for years." Ino said, trying to help her friend/rival.

"Then your teachers will have to be going under the microscope on their reviews. Now then…" he then turned back to the class. "Someone tell me the five basic elements." Immediately, a hand shot up. "Someone _other_ than Haruno." The hand went down and a few others went up. He pointed to the man next to Iruka, "Yes, you, Mr.…"

"Funeno Daikoku, sir, and the five elements are Fire, Earth, Lightning, Water, and Wind." Daikoku said.

"Very good. I noticed that you listed them off as their country's ranking on power, so I'll give you a bonus point for doing so." Hogosha said casually. "The 'Big Five', as they are known, are significant as to the common element the people who are chakra-sensitive are in tune to. Now, as it is clear that you do not know, I'll tell you exactly how we were able to gain the ability to use the elements."

The class was all at attention.

"Before the Ninja era, there was a time when it was simply countries that controlled the elements, utilizing styles that could move the elements at will. You could say it was Ninjutsu in the form of Taijutsu. For countless generations, a balance was provided by the warrior that could control all the elements, known simply as the Avatar. Roughly one thousand years ago, the Last Avatar was born.

"He was known as the Rikudou Sennin, the Last Avatar; the First Ninja.

"The time was in Peril, the world was under attack by a race that, under the guise of salvation, promoted only destruction. Using the Rikudou Sennin's own mother - a woman by the name of Izanami - as a conduit, the destroyers then used their power to twist the spirit of the moon, Yue, into an enormous mindless beast with ten tails.

"The planet's surface was never the same in the battles with the Rikudou Sennin and the Juubi, as it was called. The countries were physically merged and warped into what we know as the world we know today."

Hogosha paused to look at the genin, chunin, and jonin, almost all were hanging onto every word.

"To stop the Juubi, Izanagi – Izanami's husband and Rikudou-sama's father – sealed his beloved to the Spirit realm. Izanami, in her last views of light, believed her love had forsaken her and vowed her vengeance, and in doing so, created the Demon Realm of Yomi.

"Without Izanami directing the Juubi, Rikudou-sama was able to seal it's soul, mind, and chakra away within himself.

"The aftermath of the war was too great. Most of the elemental taijutsu practitioners were killed in the onslaught of the Juubi. The Moon itself was destroyed, and as a last resort, the destroyers sent the sun to the coldest reaches, so the survivors would have no chance. The Destroyers never took into account the resilience of humans. The Rikudou Sennin had three elder siblings that took it upon themselves to restore the world.

"The eldest, the sister, Omikami Amaterasu, a practitioner of Wind and Fire, became the new Sun and brought new light and warmth to the world.

"The second, the elder brother, Mikoto Tsukuyomi, a practitioner of Earth and Water, became the Spirit of the Moon after Rikudou-sama used the body of the Juubi as the Moon's physical form.

"The third, the younger brother, Takehaya Susano-O, a practitioner of Lightning, Water, and Wind, became one with the earthly elements and became the Storms and Seas.

"Before his death, Rikudou-sama used the last of his power as the Avatar to break the cycle of reincarnation and to allow the survivors of the war to utilize his teachings of Nindo.

"And that," Hogosha sat back at his desk, legs up and crossed, "is how elemental jutsu – and the Ninja World – came to be. Sure, there's more to the story, but that could be discussed with a later lesson."

The class was surprised and in awe, well for those that listened. Shikamaru passed out asleep not even ten seconds in, Kakashi was just reading his _Icha-Icha_, Sasuke… he didn't listen to anything that wasn't going to help him kill his brother, especially from some denouncer.

Hogosha clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Right then. Now what are the ways that one can realize their elements?"

Iruka tentatively raised his hand. "The most used one is by chakra paper, while others are usually passed down by family."

Hogosha nodded. "This is correct. The more primitive version is one's personality traits can allude to one's element. Take me for example: what element do you think is most represented by me?"

The genin thought about it, recalling their post-exam.

"Earth?" Chouji asked.

"Lightning?" Hinata guessed.

"Water?" Sai said.

Hogosha smirked at them. "I'm actually a primary Wind. My elemental ranking is Wind, Earth, Water, Lightning, and Fire. Wind is constantly flowing, encompassing everything. It can be a light breeze or a roaring cyclone. Wind is not about power, but it is the most versatile of elements. It's easily adaptable, and most people can't adapt very quickly to a situation. In fact, in the entire village, only three ninja are primarily Wind; myself, Asuma over there, and Shimura Danzou, the Old Man's rival."

"Who?" several people asked. Sai's eyes were wide as he was wondering how much Hogosha knew about his master.

"Just a cunning old war hawk that won't submit to his place in life. I respect that about him. I hate the bastard's guts, but I respect him." Hogosha shrugged it off. "Now then, let's get to the other elements:

"Earth is durable and sound, able to take pressure and strike back hard. Downside is that they are stubborn as hell.

"Water is like Wind: fluid and moving. It can be contained, but it can also burst under enough pressure. Water, unlike wind, follows where the river takes them, down paths that branch out in front of them and they cannot change where they go.

"Lightning is quick, erratic, and uncontrollable. People who can use it are quick to strike and quicker with their emotions.

"Fire…" Hogosha paused in his lecture and sighed. "Fire has a split in its personality. There is the warmth and passion that burns a flame of invigoration. The second version – I call it Uchiha Fire – is burning rage. Anger, hatred, every negative emotion eats away inside them, making them what they are… an embodiment of arrogance and spite." He glared at Sasuke, who was glaring back, although hardly at the Sannin's level.

"Sir, surely there must be an exception, an Uchiha that didn't hold such traits." One of the instructors said.

"Nope. In fact, any member that was considered 'different' was killed on a mission, be it friendly fire or a contract with the enemy, and then forgotten. To keep it simple, all 'Good' Uchiha, were dead and buried, like _under a rock_."

Kakashi twitched at the remark, something Hogosha noticed and filed away in his mind for later, Yatagrasu was already grumbling about the storage cabinet filling up again.

"Now, let's see what elements you genin have potential for." The blue-haired teacher said as he pulled out a small disc with five squares of paper on it. Each piece on the disc was tinted differently, one was reddish, one was yellowish, another was bluish, one was greenish, and the last was brownish. "The standard method only shows your strongest affinity. This update I devised back in Kusa. Depending of your potential, the papers are affected differently; Wind will split the green paper, the brown paper will crumble with Earth, the red paper will burn with Fire, the blue paper will be soaked with Water, and Lightning will cause the yellow paper to crinkle together. The extent of the chakra will be determined by me as will the elements you will wield in your lifetime."

"Hogosha-sensei, we were told everyone only has potential for one element affinity." Sakura blurted out, trying to regain her standing.

Hogosha looked at the girl sadly. "Then you had better get your money back on the crap fed to you, because that is the biggest piece of idiocy ever spewed. Your senseis can use multiple elements. Take Asuma, my best of Konoha. Asuma, what are your elemental affinities?"

Asuma stood up and said "Wind as my primary, Fire as my secondary. My dad has Fire as his primary and Earth as his second." He finished with a small sense of pride. Kurenai was surprised at his enthusiasm, but chalked it up to showing respect to his former teacher.

"Excellent, Asuma. You see, Haruno, shinobi are able to employ any element that corresponds with his or her true self. Asuma is able to adjust to any situation and bite back with exploding force." Hogosha said to the class as a whole as he continued. "Miss Kurenai is a genjutsu specialist, which utilizes Water to manipulate one's vision and Lightning for neural stimulation, but is stubborn and passionate, meaning she can also use Earth and Fire. Hatake… he's a Lighting, Earth, and Water user, meaning he's a stubborn fool that's quick to assume and flows the direction he's set - no matter how misguided - but his track record show that that quickness is worthless."

Kakashi snapped his book shut to glare at the Sannin, who appeared to hardly register it. Asuma and Kurenai got a bit on edge at the tension that was emanating in the room.

"Hogosha-san -" Kakashi began.

"That's Hogosha-_sensei_ to you, Hatake." Hogosha quipped.

"Hogosha-_sensei_…" Kakashi growled through his teeth behind his mask. "I believe you are severely overestimating the others and underestimating me."

"Oh really?" the blunet challenged. "Then tell me, out of the 'one thousand jutsu' you know, how many have you actually used? Or even _can_ use?"

"More than you think." The silver-haired man said.

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that, Hatake no Sukeipugouto (Hatake of the Sacrificial Lamb)."

The room was filled with a cold silence at the name, with confusion in all parties but the teacher. Hogosha merely ignored it as he continued setting up.

"Now then, let's get started." Hogosha said, rubbing his hands together. "When I call your name, come up to the desk, place your fingertips on the slips and focus your chakra into them. They will react depending on your affinities; the stronger the affinity is, the stronger the reaction. Academy Teachers, this will be done as soon as they can mold chakra. Akimichi Chouji, step down here please."

The pleasantly plump boy set his chips down and briskly walked to the front of Hogosha's desk, brushing his hand of the crumbs from his snacking.

Hogosha set a disc with the paper slips on it in front of Chouji. "Now Chouji, please demonstrate."

Chouji nodded and placed his fingertips on each slip of paper. Immediately, one of the slips crumbled but the red slip was glowing instead of burning. Chouji was confused and worried that he didn't do it right. Hogosha was merely intrigued.

"Heh, well what do you know." Hogosha chuckled, "First one up and there's a unique adaptation."

"Uh… sensei?" Chouji asked confused.

"Oh, right. Chouji, your main element is Earth, which, with enough training, you can use to reshape the environment to suit your objectives. Just like back in the exercise the day before, remember?"

Chouji nodded.

"Your secondary is a unique Fire, but instead of expelling flames, your type is more of an insulating heat. Using it right, you could burn or even melt stuff before you touch it."

Chouji - and most of the rest of the class - was in awe at the explanation.

"Start thinking of ways to utilize and branch out on this, Chouji. Nara Shikamaru, get down here and get this over with so you can sleep for the rest of the class."

The said Nara yawned as he got up and sauntered lazily down past his best friend as he reached the front desk as Hogosha reset the disc. "It's troublesome that you know me well enough already, Hogosha-sensei."

"I know your father." The older man remarked. "Nara men are lethargic by nature. So I'll let you get going." He gestured to the disc. Shikamaru placed his fingers on the slips, the red burning until there was only a scrap left and brown crumbling slightly. Hogosha looked amused by the outcome. "heh, Fire and Earth, passion and density, both can be used to manipulate the landscape for your shadows."

Shikamaru shrugged at his explanation and went back to his seat, his head hitting the desk before he fully sat down.

"Yup… juuuust like Shikaku. It's almost scary, really… Yamanaka Ino, front and center."

The blonde girl stood up and went directly to the desk as ordered. Hogosha gestured to the disc and she complied. Unlike her teammates, the blue and yellow slips reacted.

"Interesting. Water and Lightning, a good combination for your family, Ino."

"How so, sensei?" Ino asked.

"Water makes up two-thirds of the body, and an old art allows one to control that; these days, it's been simplified and refined to medical jutsu. The brain continuously sends out electrical synapses, ones that could be warped by Lightning. By your quality potential, I'd say you could make a Suna puppetmaster jealous with a few sparks and movements, given enough training."

Ino's eyes went wide at the explanation, and an underlying giggle was heard throughout the room.

Hogosha smirked as he noticed a few if the kunoichi teachers have thoughts of using such a technique.

"Let's take our minds out of the gutter, shall we? Inuzuka Kiba, here boy!" Hogosha whistled as he clapped his hands encouragingly.

The dog nin leaped from his position and bounded onto the front desk, Kiba begrudgingly following behind. The Inuzuka heir fixed a glare at the blue-haired Sannin, who took it as if it was nothing while he pet Akamaru.

"New dog, same trick, kid. Proceed." Hogosha said. Kiba growled as he slammed his fingers onto the disc. Like Shikamaru and Chouji, the brown and red slips activated, as did the blue slip. "Hmm… Earth, Water, and Fire. You're a stubborn piece of work driven by a single direction in life you're passionate about… at this time, it's about Dokuga, isn't it?"

Kiba's glare intensified. "You -!"

"Have absolutely nothing to do with your old man leaving you guys. That was all your mom. Go sit down."

"But you -"

"SIT!" Hogosha ordered, his voice showing authority and dominance of the situation. Kiba stiffened and did as he was told. "Stay. Aburame Shino, get your buzz butt down here."

If that had any effect on the Aburame, it didn't show. Although there were a few chuckles around the room. As Shino approached the desk, Hogosha heard insects buzzing about.

"Hey, Shino, how's Shibi?" he asked casually.

"My Father is doing well, thank you. He thanks you for the scroll and has not even gone through a fraction of the specimens."

The blunet smirked. "I'd hope not. There are some trippy bugs in there that'll go all territorial with others. Certain environmental conditions need to be met, diets worked on; the whole spiel. Now, let's see what you have in store for yourself."

Shino nodded and placed his fingers on the slips. The yellow slip crinkled and the brown slip crumbled. "…It would seem that I have Lightning and Earth affinities."

"Correct, Shino. Quick in actions but steady in planning. Just be sure that when you use a Raiton jutsu, _all_ of your allies are clear. I don't want the future of the Aburame to be a Human bug-zapper."

The Aburame heir only nodded as he went back to his seat.

"Hyuga Hinata, please come forward."

"H-hai!" the meek heiress stammered as she stood up and stumbled to the stairwell. She almost fell if Naruto hadn't caught her, his arms wrapping around her, her hair flowing around as if to envelop him in a modest hug. "N-n-Naruto-kun!?"

"Careful, Hinata. We don't want you to hurt yourself." Naruto said with his distinct smile.

"G-g-gomen…" she mumbled, her face turning a brighter shade of red than ever before. At this, Naruto was confused at her reaction.

"Eh? Hinata, are you feeling ok?" Naruto was worried that something was wrong.

As this was taking place, a handful of people noticed the exchange with different reactions.

Ino was analyzing Hinata's hair, trying to find the reason for this sudden yet appealing change in her style of choice and if she could get the same results. Chouji glimpsed at the two on the steps, but then went back to stuffing his face, albeit slowly as he tried to think of ideas for his elements. Shikamaru slept along, but you could tell there was a small smirk at his lips.

Hogosha, Kurenai, Asuma, and Iruka smiled at the two potential lovebirds. Kurenai feeling like a mother to Hinata, Asuma was reminded a bit of his times with Kurenai when they were their age, Iruka felt a bit of pride for the boy he had come to know as his student and, on some level, a surrogate brother, Hogosha was glad that his student reacted by instinct, but the kid was still pretty dense, he figured it'd take something drastic for any real action at this rate, but… he didn't want anything life-threatening to occur. For now though, he was content with the situation, but he had to continue.

"Hinata~, if you would please descend from your oh-so realistic delusions, come up here please. Naruto, you can go after her turn."

"Hai, Hogo-sensei –Ow!" our favorite blond remarked and reacted to a piece of chalk hitting his face.

"That's Hogo_sha_-sensei, kid." The blunet master reiterated as he gestured Hinata to his desk.

The shy blunette stopped in front of the young-ish Sannin, and taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she placed her hand on the slips of paper. The reaction was well. The blue slip became soaked, the yellow paper crinkled, and for the first time, the green paper split into two pieces.

Hogosha was surprised at this, but Hinata seemed despaired, something he could immediately tell was the problem.

"Hm, Water, Lightning, and Wind. You are a free spirit that chooses to follow a single path, and is apt at quick reflexes, despite certain… impasses…" he saw her lower her head in disappointment. He sighed and continued, "Hinata, I would like to speak to you after class about this little development. Please be here."

"H…hai, Hogosha-sensei." She mumbled dejectedly.

Concern was in place on Kurenai's face yet _again_, but that predicament is for later.

Naruto glanced at Hinata as she passed him, curious at her less than enthusiastic reaction. He looked to his sensei, who merely motioned to speak about it later. Naruto shrugged on the matter, placing his hand on the slips.

But before he could even touch them, the red slip bust into a stream of blue and red flame, surprising everyone. After regaining his composure, Hogosha looked at the dish to see that all the slips reacted, not just the fire paper.

The green slip was so shredded, you could barely see the pieces floating in the water forming from the drenched blue slip, most of it breaking up into the water. The yellow slip was crinkled into a tiny ball, although it was larger than the remaining blue paper. The brown slip remained in the bottom of the shallow disc, taking on a muddy film texture keeping it from diluting. The red slip was now a red ring, the corners and center burned away. Hogosha let out a low whistle.

"Wow, I sure know how to pick students! Wind, Water, Lightning, Earth, and Fire in that order; and you didn't even touch the papers!" Hogosha started laughing.

"What does that mean, Sensei?" Naruto asked, confused as hell.

"It means, Naruto, that you can learn more jutsu than the others, and can fight against any adversary thrown at you. You chakra potential is higher than mine!"

Everyone's eyes were wide at that, and one's eyes were filled with building anger.

Sasuke stood up at his desk and stomped to the front, shoving Naruto out of his way. Both master and student glared at the last Uchiha. "If the dobe has that much power, you should have chosen me."

"Go Sasuke-kun!" squealed the pink-haired idiot, gaining a bit of his residual confidence after her extended self-humiliation.

Hogosha only glared at the avenger. He was really tempted to beat the living ego out of him and let him rot on a deserted island, but he figured the council would bitch about it and decided to tolerate the bastard a little longer. "And _you_ should learn to respect your superiors, Uchiha. You can start by kissing my feet."

Sasuke's glare only intensified, his teeth grinding against each other, while the rest of the class had mixed reactions. The teachers present were a little shocked at the arrogance Sasuke showed to a legendary ninja, but even more at Hogosha's disrespect to the Last Uchiha. Iruka sighed, as he had figured this would happen, considering Hogosha's reaction to their discussion earlier. Kurenai was a little surprised at the disrespect Sasuke showed, but wrote it off with the Uchiha's superiority complex. Asuma grinned at his sensei holding all the cards; after Wukon's assassination, he never liked the Uchiha, but to stop himself from becoming missing nin by going after them himself and betraying his father, he went and joined the Twelve Ninja Guardians. The male genin present laughed at seeing the Uchiha taken down a peg, even Hinata giggled a bit at his expense. Ino looked worried, considering she still had feelings for Sasuke, but not as drastic as they were before. As for the remaining members of Team 7, their reaction was more negative. Kakashi glared at the blunet Sannin, while Sakura…

"SHUT UP, HOGOSHA-SENSEI! Sasuke-kun is the strongest here, he deserves your respect!" Sakura screeched.

"When I ask for opinions, Haruno, you may give them," Hogosha countered, settling a glare on her. "Otherwise, keep that worthless gob of yours tighter than a priestess's anus."

The verbal jab made Sakura flush as pink as her hair and sent the rest of the room into a raucous laughter. The Haruno glared as Naruto as he was coming back up the steps, as if he was the cause of her current situation. "Naruto-baka, can't you tell your sensei otherwise?"

Naruto flushed a bit in embarrassment. "ahehe… Gomen, Sakura-chan, but Hogosha-sensei is who he is, I can't stop him."

Sakura's face held an unkempt fury. "THEN WHAT GOOD ARE YOU!? Useless worthless bastard…"

Her words stung Naruto's heart, but he endured as Hogosha taught him the day before. He simply sat back down and waited for the end of class.

Hogosha set the new disc in between him and the Uchiha, staring him down in a condescending manner. The Avenger never took his eyes off him as he proceeded to prove him wrong. After a moment, Sasuke removed his hand and stepped away while folding his arms in superiority. The Sannin glanced at the disc and a smirk grew on his face. The smirk became a chuckle, then into full-blown laughter that escalated to hysterical proportions. The Uchiha's irate nature hated the Sannin's obvious mocking.

"In al-hahahaHA-all my years… *snort* I never tho-heeheehee-thought I'd see an Uchi-heeheehahahahaHAHA so pathetic to not ha-HAHAHAHA-have a Fire element… IT'S HILARIOUS!" he started banging on his desk to stifle his mirth. "The most hate-filled Uchiha in all my years and he can't even do Katon! It's so brilliantly ironically HILARIOUS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!" His giggles took control of him as he fell to the ground.

The Last Uchiha was enraged. How DARE this…this… _dobe_-supporter say he couldn't use Katon when he dodged one just the other day!

"Err… Hogosha-sensei?" one of the jutsu instructors said. "Sasuke-san has done Katon before, why are you saying otherwise?"

Hogosha's hand shot up in the gesture to wait a moment as his chortles dwindled. His hand still in the air to make gestures, he said, "Tell me, Uchiha, you didn't get the fireball technique down quickly, did you."

Sasuke was now shocked at such a deduction.

"Your silence states my assumption to be correct." His hand went down as he flipped to his feet. "From your expression, it took you longer than you wished or expected… a month? Two? Doesn't matter. It took you long because your body was adapting to a way it is not supposed to. You're a Lightning: quick with emotions, quick with actions, and probably too damn erratic as well." He turned to the class. "All right, class. Tell me the ways fires start, specifically."

"Uh… heating something up?"

"Spontaneous combustion?"

"A spark." said the kunoichi next to Iruka.

"And that is the answer I was looking for… I'm sorry, your name, please?"

"Suzume, Hogosha-sensei."

"Very well. There may be certain conditions to some where they may be able to use an element outside their ability, but any significant adaptation is hard to come by."

"Then I'll just gain them all!" Sasuke growled.

"Idiot." Hogosha growled. "As much as I'd like to see your _species_ die out, the rest of the class needs to know if they attempt it."

"I'm an Uchiha! Nothing is beyond me!" the avenger barked.

Hogosha ignored the outburst. "It is said to truly gain an element outside your nature, you must find its purest source and endure being immersed in it for twenty-four hours straight, _OR_ you must speak with a demon of that nature and come to a mutual understanding. The latter described was a ritual a clan from the east used to keep peace between our world and the Demon Realm.

"The only reason Uchiha here can use it is because Fire and Lightning are derived from the same fighting style. Before Rikudou-sama's era began, a previous Avatar dealt with two such practitioners – father and daughter, actually – in their attempts to kill him. A spark of Lightning ignites the air, making it appear to be a Katon, but obviously, it's a poor imitation at best."

That did it. Sasuke had had enough of this fool. "I'll show you a poor imitation! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The class was in shock that Sasuke would blatantly attack a superi- oh wait, it's Sasuke, so no surprise. They were just shocked that Hogosha didn't do anything to stop the attack, simply letting it engulf him. Asuma was surprised that he didn't dodge it, Kurenai was just as stunned. Kakashi… he merely giggled at a line in his beloved porn, oblivious to the situation below, or simply not caring.

"HOGOSHA-SENSEI!" yelled Naruto, in direct panic at what he sees. His panic was soon rage at the Uchiha's next words.

"Feh, worthless fool."

If Naruto didn't have a reason to not like Sasuke, he did now. He quickly leapt from his seat and lunged at the avenger, screaming "TEME!" and blindsiding him with a kick that sent him across the room.

Sasuke steadily got up and glared as red-tailed blond. "that's twice you've hit me from behind, coward."

"And I've got plenty more where that came from!" Naruto yelled, ready to wail on him again.

"As much as I'd love seeing an Uchiha get mangled, can I continue my lesson?" a voice said from the flames. The flames steadily dispersed – or more accurately, _absorbed_ into Hogosha's body – and showed the 6'7" Sannin without a scratch or a singe. He looked perfectly fine! "Besides, I didn't bring any popcorn to enjoy it." He jokes the class looks at him in blatant astonishment.

"I-impossible! You should be nothing but ashes now!" Sasuke stammered.

Hogosha merely chuckled. "And I probably would be, if not for the fact that I am completely immune to fire's negative effects." He snapped his fingers, causing a flame to start flickering, only this flame was…

"Black?" one of the teachers asked in astonishment.

"Correct. In the past, I was immersed in the essence of the Shadowed Son of Amaterasu… quit thinking dirty! The after-effect is that I am able to utilize them as one would normal Katon, and – as you saw – invulnerability to all manner of flames."

"You stole them from my clan!" Sasuke yelled.

"No, your _kind_ merely made a contribution." Hogosha said with a smirk. "Itachi made a much more… pleasing offer." The class stiffened and Sasuke grabbed a kunai. "Oh, too soon?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Sasuke lunged at Hogosha in a blind rage –

- Only for Hogosha to backhand him through the classroom window.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shrieked as she rushed down the steps.

"Leave the bastard be, Haruno." Hogosha stated with no nonsense in his voice.

"But Sasuke-kun -"

"Attempted to kill a superior for stating the truth. Obviously he couldn't handle it."

"You provoked him!" she screeched.

"And he should have taken it like a man," Hogosha countered, "but then again, he's not much of one, is he?"

Sakura screamed and stomped out of the classroom, slamming the door, obviously going to help her 'Sasuke-kun'. The class was silent for a bit until Hogosha sighed.

"Damn, stubborn as fuck and drowning in her own fantasies, total rapids case… damn. Sai, front and center."

The alabaster-skinned boy walked down and stood in front of the remains of Hogosha's desk. He smiled that slightly creepy smile of his. Hogosha sighed.

"First, kid, start showing a bit more emotion around people. Not enough for your 'boss' to notice, but just so you can be seen as a bit more normal." Hogosha whispered so no one else in the room could hear. He raised his voice at the next part. "Now, due to the Uchiha's… _outburst_, I'll have to do your elemental affiliation the old-fashioned way." He folded his hands and cracked his knuckles as he stretched his arms. "You ready?" Sai nodded and stuck his hand out. Hogosha set his own hand upon it. "Now, tell me what you feel. Physically."

Sai closed his eyes and concentrated. "…I feel… cold, wet, like my arm is melting from a force of heat, but my arm is still stable."

"Very good, Sai. That means you're primarily a Water type, but you have a strong Fire affinity as well, good for you!"

Sai smiled a bit wider than before, bowed, and then took his seat, following Naruto.

"Now then… here's a question for you all: What is the purpose of D-rank missions?"

One of the teachers said, "to promote teamwork?"

"Were you the one that taught Haruno? Because that's the wrong answer. The true purpose of D-ranks is more training, simple as that."

"EEEEHHH?" was the common reaction by the class.

"Why else would I have you go over your elemental affinities? There are specific training jobs just for learning to control that!" Hogosha chided. "Water control is organized by painting (like we didn't have enough of that), Wind control is worked on by debris clean-up, Earth control by sifting sludge at the sewage facility –" this was met by a few cringing 'eeeeww!'s "- you don't get down and dirty, if that's what you're thinking… Quit thinking it like that!

"Lightning control is utilized by wire-checking at buildings, and Fire control has the most uses around, heating things and the like." Hogosha stretched a bit before he continued. "that should be enough for today. For homework, I want each of you to come to class next having mastered two C-rank jutsu of your primary element. Class dismissed."

"Eh? That's too much!" groaned Kiba.

"Take it or leave it, pup. Those are my terms."

The people in class filed out except for two of them, Naruto and Hinata. Naruto was waiting to go and Hinata was fidgeting in her seat across from Naruto. Hogosha sighed as he looked to Hinata.

"Fate is one of those fickle beings, ain't she, Hinata?"

* * *

**yeee-up, I'm being a total dip for cutting it off right here, ain't I?**

**But no matter! for now you have the chance to choose how it'll all go down!  
**

**What techniques will the rookies learn? What training will Hogosha put Naruto through? WHY DO I KEEP BUILDING UP THE SEXUAL TENSION!?  
**

**oh wait... that last part is for later, hehehe. Well, just throw out your ideas for what Hogosha should do about the situations before him. Remember to review!  
**

* * *

**Okay, here's one of those things my pesky sister comes up with: Gurren Lagann and Transformers Crossover  
**

**FIRST Poll!  
**

**Should I do it?  
**

**if so, which Transformers style should I go for?  
**


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